Scottish Botanists’ Conference

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.

An amazing 380 people registered for the online Scottish Botanists' Conference on the 6th November, with 240 viewers for the most popular talks. We had a great day of truly inspirational talks. Who knew that Seagrass meadows around our shores were so important for carbon sequestration? And that while some arctic-alpines are faring really well after 40 years of monitoring on Ben Lawers, others are not? There was a fascinating talk on Beinn Eighe, currently celebrating its 70th anniversary, and a beautifully illustrated talk on searching for rare arctic-alpines in West Affric. All this was followed by two great workshops - one on Larch ID and another on Polypody ID.

Check out the Scottish Botanists' Conference 2021 site, where you can watch recordings of the talks and workshops and peruse the exhibition and the BSBI Photographic Competition.