Our Plant Atlas 2020 project to map changing plant distributions across Britain & Ireland culminated in March 2023 in the launch of a new website, the publication of a 2-volume book, a series of in-person and online launches, and extensive media coverage, which is summarised below.
Radio coverage national & local
In Britain: BSBI Chief Executive Julia Hanmer was interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Today programme (clip below); Scientific Officer/ Plant Atlas 2020 co-author Pete Stroh was interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Farming Today; and Comms Officer Louise Marsh was interviewed on nine BBC local radio programmes (clips from several are below).
In Scotland: Scotland Officer Matt Harding was interviewed on BBC Radio Scotland, Iain MacDonald was interviewed (in Gaelic) on BBC Alba and Sarah Watts was interviewed on Channel 8 Freeview about the Plant Atlas and montane plants.
In Wales: Steph Tyler was interviewed on BBC Radio Wales.
In Ireland: Oonagh Duggan was interviewed on RTE's flagship 'Good Morning Ireland' programme, on Kildare FM (clip below) and on East Coast FM; John Faulkner was interviewed on Radio Foyle; Paul Green was on WRL Waterford; and Micheline Sheehy Skeffington was interviewed twice on RTE (clips below), on 'The Great Outdoors' for Connemara Community Radio and on Louth FM.
Radio clips national & local
TV coverage
Kevin Walker was interviewed on BBC News (clip below); Louise Marsh and Josh Styles were interviewed for a feature on Channel 4 News.
TV clips
Press articles: newspapers
National press (UK)
Plant Atlas 2020 was featured in The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/08/half-of-britain-and-irelands-native-plants-have-declined-over-20-years-study
In The Times: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/native-plants-have-halved-since-the-1950s-hxdbhqdjq
In a piece in the Financial Times about the impact of climate change on trees
In The Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/britain-ireland-irish-nfu-government-b2296167.html
National press (Ireland)
We were delighted that the Plant Atlas was featured in a series of high-profile articles in the prestigious Irish Times, Ireland's leading broadsheet:
- https://www.irishtimes.com/environment/2023/03/08/20-year-research-project-reveals-devastating-loss-of-irish-plant-life/
- https://www.irishtimes.com/environment/climate-crisis/2023/03/08/restoring-irish-plants-six-key-actions-to-take-from-creating-new-habitats-to-better-biodiversity-research/
- https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2023/03/09/if-were-not-careful-plant-atlas-2020-will-simply-be-a-record-of-what-weve-lost/
- https://www.irishtimes.com/environment/2023/03/23/the-ability-to-identify-plants-is-declining-but-natural-history-skills-have-never-been-so-necessary/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
The Atlas also featured in three articles in the Irish Examiner:
- https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41087989.html
- https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/ourview/arid-41089810.html
- and https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/outdoors/arid-41093059.html
Article (paywalled) in Business Post (Ireland): https://www.businesspost.ie/analysis-opinion/elaine-byrne-biodiversity-loss-can-be-stemmed-if-we-return-to-the-beauty-of-our-wild-past/
Regional press (Ireland)
https://www.nenaghguardian.ie/2023/03/21/lough-derg-plant-species-hit-by-pollution/
Press articles: magazines & journals
Reaching new audiences in the Farmers' Journal (Ireland): https://www.farmersjournal.ie/over-half-of-ireland-s-native-plants-in-decline-report-753253
There was a short note in The Week Junior (image on right).
In Envirotec magazine: https://envirotecmagazine.com/2023/03/15/20-year-research-project-reveals-devastating-loss-of-british-irish-flora/
Websites, blogposts & partner newsletters: national
On the Sky News website: https://news.sky.com/story/huge-implications-as-non-native-plants-outnumber-native-species-for-first-time-major-study-finds-12828566
On the Wildlife Trusts website: https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/news/20-year-research-project-reveals-devastating-loss-british-irish-flora
On the Science & Environment page of the BBC website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-64842402 and on the Newsround: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/64889032
On the Natural History Museum website: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2023/march/over-half-britains-plant-species-now-non-native.html
On the RTE website: https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2023/0308/1360875-flora/
In the Ends report: https://www.endsreport.com/article/1815982/non-native-plants-outnumber-british-flora-report-finds
On the Bird Guides website: https://www.birdguides.com/news/long-term-study-reveals-devastating-loss-of-british-flora/
On the Plantlife website: https://www.plantlife.org.uk/about-us/blog/bsbi-plant-atlas-2020-launch-uk/
On Countryside Jobs Service's news page: https://www.countryside-jobs.com/article/2023-03-08-20-year-research-project-reveals-devastating-loss-of-british-irish-flora
On the NBN Trust's website and in their monthly newsletter: https://nbn.org.uk/news/plant-atlas-2020/
On the websites, and in the newsletters, of the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, the Biological Records Centre: https://www.brc.ac.uk/article/bsbis-atlas-2020-published and in UK Research & Innovation's bulletin.
In The Canary: https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2023/03/10/new-report-finds-that-half-of-the-uks-native-plants-are-in-decline/
On 'Your Weather': https://www.yourweather.co.uk/news/trending/major-report-loss-of-plant-species-uk-ireland-conservation-biodiversity.html
Websites, blogposts & partner newsletters: regional and local
On the BBC Scotland website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-64875273
On the Belfast Live website: https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/irish-native-plants-decline-branded-26431924
Photos and a short note on the website of National Museums Northern Ireland: https://www.nationalmuseumsni.org/news/bsbi-2020-atlas-launch
Irish Independent: https://www.independent.ie/news/more-than-half-of-britain-and-irelands-native-plants-in-decline-report-finds/42375389.html
Article in the Roaringwater Journal (West Cork): https://roaringwaterjournal.com/tag/bsbi/
There was also an article in The Seed, the in-house newsletter for staff at RBG Edinburgh.
International coverage
The Plant Atlas press release was shared via the Press Association, which resulted in widespread international coverage; the Atlas was mentioned on the website of the World Economic Forum: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/03/xxx-and-the-other-climate-crisis-stories-you-need-to-read-this-week/
In leading French newspaper, Le Figaro: https://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/la-moitie-des-plantes-endemiques-en-grande-bretagne-en-declin-selon-une-etude-20230308
Headlines New York: https://trendingnewsagency.com/more-than-half-of-britain-and-ireland-s-native-plants-in-decline-report-trending-news-55415.html
The News International: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1048003-half-of-uk-native-plants-in-decline-study
Barron's: https://www.barrons.com/news/half-of-uk-native-plants-in-decline-major-study-e3e2d1b3
Alarabiya News: https://english.alarabiya.net/life-style/healthy-living/2023/03/08/Half-of-UK-native-plants-in-decline-Major-study
Al Mayadeen: https://english.almayadeen.net/news/environment/britains-native-plants-surpassed-in-number-by-alien-flora:-s
Arab News: https://www.arabnews.com/node/2277971/books
MSN: https://www.msn.com/en-in/video/watch/climate-change-is-affecting-uk-s-ecosystem/vi-AA18sYZ3
Planet Custodian: https://www.planetcustodian.com/britain-ireland-lose-50-percent-of-native-plants-20-years/31223/
EcoWatch: https://www.ecowatch.com/native-plants-uk-ireland-climate-change-agriculture.html
Future Tech Prince: https://futuretechprince.com/native-plants-in-britain-and-ireland-are-in-decline-due-to-climate-change/
Enviro 360: https://www.enviro360.com/climate/non-native-plants-outnumber-native-plants-in-the-uk-and-ireland/8498/
Vigour Times: https://vigourtimes.com/more-than-half-of-britain-and-irelands-native-plants-in-decline-report-finds/
Plant Atlas in the media since the March 2023 launch
Media coverage of Plant Atlas 2020 did not stop after the launch: articles are increasingly referencing the Atlas in their coverage.
This paywalled piece was published in Resurgence/ The Ecologist in April. The article has very kindly been made available by the journalist, Stephanie Boxall, here: Resurgence-•-Article-The-glorious-world-of-wild-flowers-copy.pdf.
An article on the website of RTE https://www.rte.ie/news/2023/0318/1363792-group-turns-invasive-species-into-biofuel/, Ireland's national television and radio broadcaster, references the Atlas.
This article in the Irish Examiner mentions the Atlas and includes a photograph taken at the Dublin launch, when BSBI President Micheline Sheehy Skeffington presented the Atlas to Malcolm Noonan, the Minister of State. An article in The Impartial Reporter also references Plant Atlas 2020 findings.
The Plant Atlas, and the recording efforts of thousands of botanists, were referenced in this article in The Guardian about Japanese Knotweed.
A glowing review of Plant Atlas 2020 by Peter Marren in British Wildlife magazine.
BSBI Chief Executive Julia Hanmer arrives at the BBC on Plant Atlas launch day, ready to be interviewed on the Today programme
At the Plant Atlas Dublin launch, BSBI President Micheline Sheehy Skeffington and Curator Matthew Jebb visited the Herbarium with Malcolm Noonan, Minister of State.
At the Wales launch, attendees enjoyed a Plant Atlas Cake, showing all the counties from which botanical records were submitted
Lorna Slater MSP gives the opening address at the Plant Atlas launch at RBG Edinburgh
Plant Atlas note in 'The Week Junior'
