2021 County Report for East Ross & Cromarty
Brian Ballinger
Recording: continued this year in spite of the constraints of Covid. I have entered about 5000 records for the vice-county. I am grateful to contributors for their work.
Talks: I gave a talk to the Inverness Botany Group (IBG) “Three Woods and a Pond” (YouTube).
I gave a short talk on my lockdown projects to the Scottish Spring Conference. I also gave a similar to talk to a retired doctors group.
Publications: I collated the “Checklist of the Urban Flora of Scotland “on behalf of the Botanical Society of Scotland (BSS) and published:
- “50 walls in Dundee” in the BSBI Scottish Newsletter 2021.
- “Plants on Walls in Easter Ross” Highland Naturalist 2021 17 14-15 ‘
- “Wild Plants of Some Northern Scottish Railway Stations - the last 19 years”. BSS news (2021) 116 43-47
- “Plants Growing on Easter Ross Town and Country Walls “BSS News (2021) 116 39-42
I also contributed a few BSS blogs.
Urban Flora: I have continued to participate in the BSS Urban Flora Project and have entered about 4,500 records this year. I am continuing with prospective comparison studies of urban and rural flora in general and particular habitats.
Field Meetings: I co-led a successful field meeting with Mary Dean in Muir of Ord on behalf of the BSBI, BSS and IBG. I led three field meetings for the Dundee Naturalists and BSS in Dundee, Monifieth and Arbroath and co-led a BSS and PSNS meeting in Kinross.