Bovey Tracey New Year Plant Hunt 2021

Anya Craven, Mateo Craven and Frances Billings

Thanks to a reminder from the Botany Section of the Devonshire Association we decided to take part in the New Year 2021 wild flower plant hunt.

This is an annual event organised by the Botanical Society of the British Isles. It is open to anyone, you do not have to be a member. The hunt for plants in flowers took place over three hours during 1- 4th January. Recording was really easy using the app on the BSBI site.

We started at Thorns Cross and explored the Challabrook footpath.

In all we found the following 24 species in flower which we thought was a good tally;-

Creeping Buttercup, European gorse, Meadowsweet, Barren Strawberry, Hazel, Shepherd’s-purse, Charlock, Common Chickweed, Red Campion, Germander Speedwell, Smooth Sow-thistle, Common Ragwort, Groundsel, Common Ivy,  Cow Parsley, Dandelion, Red Dead-nettle, White Dead-nettle, Ivy-leaved Bellflower, Mexican Fleabane, Daisy, Yarrow, Winter Heliotrope, Annual Meadow-grass.

Soon after the closing date we spotted Lesser Celandine; Bramble; Common Nettle; Mistletoe; Primrose; Ivy-leaved Toadflax; Red Valerian; Rough Meadow-grass; and Cocksfoot. It was too late for us to include them in our 2021 list but maybe we will find them in time next year.

Plants we were looking for but did not find were Dog’s Mercury, Holly, and Herb Robert, so if you know of sites where these plants flower early do let us know.

Anya was the photographer and said, ‘It was a good way to get out for a walk. I was surprised at how many different types of flowers we found.’ Mateo was the chief spotter and his verdict was, ‘It was great fun. I would recommend it for both young and old people. It was also good for birding.’

As a grandmother I found it an excellent activity for children as the limited number of flowers were easy for them to learn. If you want to see our list and also what others found throughout the county just click on the interactive map www.nyph.bsbi.org

We look forward to our hunt in New Year 2022.