Scottish Botanists’ Conference

There will be a wide range of talks to enjoy, including on research into montane woodland restoration, measures to help conserve Whorled Solomon’s-seal, the flora of Scottish Cemeteries, securing the future of rare bryophytes at Bavelaw Reservoir, revisiting Lee’s Flora of the Clyde Area for its centenary, an updated Eyebright taxonomy for us to digest, the results of a national survey of the very rare alpine Tufted Saxifrage, and updates from BSBI and the Botanical Society of Scotland (BSS).

The ever-popular afternoon workshop sessions will be running, including: Rushes for Complete Beginners, an Introduction to Lichens, Conifers for Beginners, Getting started with the BSBI Recording App, Glasswort (Salicornia) ID, Mountain Dandelion (Taraxacum) Identification, and Tackling brambles with the Scottish Brambles Handbook.

As part of the workshop programme, we are also running an open discussion session on Conservation Translocations, chaired by the Head of Plantlife Scotland Alistair Whyte – a great opportunity to explore the why, where and how of translocations and share your thoughts with the wider Scottish botanical community.

An informal discussion session will be running during lunchtime with Tom Humphrey, creator of the BSBI Recording App, who would like your thoughts on where next for the App – what direction the next phase of App development should go in and what new features would be useful to you as recorders.

There will also be an Exhibition, where conference participants are encouraged to display exhibits – please book a poster or table space for you or your organisation via the booking link. Examples of previous displays include interesting botanical finds in your area, research project posters and case studies, or summaries of an organisation’s work in Scotland. All are welcome! If you have any questions about the exhibition, please email Matt Harding.

The post-conference dinner this year will be held at the nearby Heriot’s Rugby Club – a great opportunity to get together and catch up with old friends or make new connections. You can book onto this via the conference booking link.

As usual the conference will include the BSBI’s Scottish Annual General Meeting, during which elections for membership of the Committee for Scotland will be held. If any of our Scottish members would be interested in joining the Committee, we would love to hear from you. Please contact the Secretary Polly Spencer-Vellacott or Chair David Elston to discuss what's involved.

The Scottish Botanists' Conference is organised and supported by BSBI, the BSS, and RBGE.

The 2024 Scottish Botanists' Conference was held at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh on Saturday 2nd November, with a record 220 participants from across Scotland and beyond!

Conference goers enjoyed a wide range of talks, including updates on conservation initiatives for threatened species such as Small Cow-wheat, One-flowered Wintergreen and Twinflower, a groundbreaking approach to willow and pondweed identification using genetic barcoding, a year in the life of a mountain botanist, a novel approach to Giant Hogweed control using sheep grazing, a guide through the curious tale of the invasive Rhododendron ponticum and just why it does so well in Scotland, flash talks from student researchers, and annual updates from the BSBI and Botanical Society of Scotland. View the full programme here.

This year the ever-popular mini-workshops covered Eyebright identification, ferns for beginners, how to take photos for Bramble identification, an introduction to Sphagnum bog-mosses, getting the most out of your smartphone for plant photography, how to use the new BSBI recording app, an introduction to using the BSBI’s plant distribution database, and making the most of herbaria. Handouts from the workshops are available to download here.

The conference was accompanied by a fantastic exhibition of all things botanical in Scotland, including displays of unusual finds by vice-county recorders, posters on landscape-level habitat restoration projects and surveys for nationally rare species, botanical artwork and willow-weaving, the 2024 BSBI Photographic Competition entries, and even a stall extolling the culinary uses of Sea-buckthorn! You can read a summary of all the exhibits here, and head to the 2024 conference exhibition page to view and download electronic copies of many of the exhibits.

The Scottish Botanists' Conference included the BSBI’s 2024 Scottish Annual General Meeting (AGM), during which elections for membership of the Committee for Scotland were held. We are delighted to welcome Alex Twyford to the Committee, and thank all those continuing to serve or stepping down for their contributions over the past year.

If you would be interested in finding out more about the Committee for Scotland's work, and maybe even get involved, we would love to hear from you! Please contact the Secretary Polly Spencer-Vellacott or Chair David Elston to find out more.

This year's AGM approved a new constitution for the Committee for Scotland to bring us in line with other BSBI country committees. Minutes, previous and new constitutions are available below:

The 2023 Scottish Botanists’ Conference was held at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh on Saturday 4th November and welcomed everyone interested in Scottish botany, from beginners to experts and professionals.

Following the landmark publication of Plant Atlas 2020 this year, we were delighted to welcome Professor Matt Williams, Chief Scientific Adviser for Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture to Scottish Government to open the conference.

A diverse programme included talks on Plant Atlas 2020 and its impact, rare plant translocations for conservation, the recently updated Caledonian Pinewood Inventory, why plant taxonomy keeps changing, a year in the life of a conservation botanist, and project updates from BSBI, BSS and Plantlife Scotland. All sessions are now available to view on the BSBI YouTube channel.

View the programme and on-the-day information here. Abstracts for the conference exhibition can be viewed here, and you can view many of the exhibits that were on display at SBC 2023 here.

A great range of hands-on identification and training workshops were also on offer, including workshops on the tricky taxonomic groups of willow-herbs and montane willows, introductions to horsetail and dock identification, a workshop on bryophytes for beginners, a introduction to making herbarium specimens and how to use herbaria online, and how to get the most out of the online Plant Atlas 2020 website. Resources from some of the training workshops are available here.

150 people enjoyed this year’s Scottish Botanists’ Conference, at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh on Saturday 5 November. The two main talks by Clifton Bain and Shaila Rao were very popular. There was also a great variety of other short talks, workshops, exhibits and posters, the Scottish AGM, the Photographic Competition and, of course, Summerfield Books!

The event was face-to-face but we recorded the talks and here they are:

Rainforests and Peatlands: Travels around Scotland's most threatened habitats - Clifton Bain, Advisor to the IUCN UK Peatland Programme
What can you do with a completely sequenced flora? - Alex Twyford, University of Edinburgh
Vascular Epiphytes in Easter Ross - Brian Ballinger, BSBI & BSS
Update from Botanical Society of Scotland - Jill Thompson, BSS President
The Scottish Officer year - Jim McIntosh, BSBI Scottish Officer
Plantlife Scotland update and plans - Alistair Whyte, Head of Plantlife Scotland
From The Bird's Mouth / Bho Bheul an Eòin - Derek Roberston
Plant Conservation at Mar Lodge National Nature Reserve - Shaila Rao, Conservation Manager, NTS Mar Lodge
Presentation to mark Jim McIntosh's retirement - by Lynne Farrell, BSBI President

There were also tours of the RBGE Herbarium & Library and six mini-workshops:

An introduction to ferns for beginners by Heather McHaffie
An introduction to grasses for beginners by Jay Mackinnon
Cypresses by Matt Parratt - here are the notes and photographs from Matt's mini-workshop and here is his helpful Lateral key to cypresses.
Sitka spruce and other invasive conifers: what next? discussion led by Lindsay Mackinlay
Spike-rushes by Jeremy Roberts
Spikey-rosette aquatics by Nick Stewart

We had over 28 posters and exhibits and here are the Exhibition Abstracts.