Planning for the NYPH

So what exactly is this New Year Plant Hunt thingie all about, I hear you ask. And why have I decided to participate in the 2022 hunt? To quote from the BSBI themselves

Since 2012, the Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland (BSBI) has run an annual hunt for plants in flower during a four-day period over New Year. Since the first New Year Plant Hunt (NYPH) was carried out by Tim Rich and Sarah Whild in Cardiff in 2012, the scheme has grown rapidly...

Indeed it has grown rapidly, last year saw the better part of two thousand folks wandering their local streets/woods/churchyards in search of plants in flower. This will be my first time participating in the hunt, so that's kind of exciting. And it will be a great beginning to my botanical odyssey, that's also kind of exciting. But most importantly, it will add the tiniest extra smidge of information for the data gathering people at BSBI headquarters. Every single record, even the nil returns, helps the BSBI gain a clearer insight into how our plants are responding to the continuing climate crisis. This will be the eleventh year that records have been gathered through the New Year Plant Hunt, so there's an entire decade's worth of data proving that the text books are already out of date and that many hundreds of plant species are capable of flowering in what ought to be the dead of winter. Bit scary when you think about it. 

I wondered if anybody had previously undertaken a New Year Plant Hunt here on Skye. Rather handily, the BSBI have produced this tool which allowed me to see that during 2021's hunt, Joanna popped into Portree on January 2nd and found flowering Gorse, Daisy, Nipplewort, Dandelion, Prickly Sow-thistle, Common Ragwort and Annual Meadow-grass. Meanwhile, Stephen Bungard over on Raasay was out and about on January 1st and managed to find flowering Bramble, Wavy Bittercress, Common Field Speedwell, Gorse, Glabrous Whitlowgrass, Groundsel, Meadow Buttercup, Annual Meadow-grass and Daisy. So the aim for my own Hunt is to beat Joanna's total of seven species and see if I can match, or even exceed, the heady heights of Stephen's nine species. Doubtless all you southerners are laughing your socks off at the thought of hoping to seeing a 'mere' nine species in flower. Just try it up here, that's all I have to say. 

I expect it will be too early for Snowdrops, but who knows what I'll find at the Portree site

You're allowed a maximum of three hours per hunt, which is more than enough time to wander the streets, but there's no limit on the number of hunts an individual can undertake, so long as the sites don't overlap and the hunts fall within the prescribed four days as set out by the BSBI. Obviously I'll be doing my first walk right here in Uig where I'm almost guaranteed to locate some Annual Meadow-grass, Daisy and Gorse in flower. Not sure what else I'll find, but it will be fun searching. Then I think I'll relocate down to the woods in Portree. There are various sheltered spots and large gardens nearby, I'm hopeful of finding one or two naturalised garden escapees flowering amongst the usual suspects. Giving it a bit of thought, I think I'm in with a chance of finding flowering Common Chickweed, Ivy-leaved Toadflax (I know just the wall...) and maybe a crocus somewhere. 

One thing I am very definitely not going to do is talk Ghostie into doing the NYPH. He'll be into double figures within a hundred feet of his door and will absolutely whup whatever meagre total I manage to achieve. 

And I simply can't have him gloating from the very first day of the year.