Wildlife is dormant in winter… or is it? You could join a nationwide survey of winter-blooming wildflowers, run by the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI), using the FSC Flowers of walks and waysides guide to help you, if you’ve got that one!
The 11th BSBI New Year Plant Hunt runs from Saturday 1st to Tuesday 4th January 2022.
It’s really easy to take part. All you need to take a walk in your local area, taking a photo of each species in bloom you find. Then simply submit your findings online to the BSBI (link below).
In 2021, 1811 people took part, recording 710 different species in bloom. Towns and cities with a warmer microclimate and less frost produced longer lists than the countryside.
The top 5 species found were daisy, groundsel, dandelion, annual meadow-grass and chickweed. Around half the records were ‘autumn stragglers’ – plants that had been flowering since the summer, like yarrow, ragwort and hogweed. But a few ‘springtime specialists’ like primrose and lesser celandine were already in bloom.
Read more about taking part in the hunt, including the smartphone app for submitting your results.
For more inspiration, watch our video below to see what the FSC team saw within a short wintery walk from the office -looking in ordinary places for flowers still in bloom in the depths of winter!