*** BOOKING WILL CLOSE AT MIDNIGHT TONIGHT***

Everyone with an interest in Scottish botany is very welcome to the Scottish Botanists’ Conference – the new name for the BSBI / BSS Scottish Annual Meeting – that is intended to appeal to all botanists in Scotland and beyond, whether members or not.

We are delighted to announce that our special guest speaker is Professor Robert Crawford of The University of St Andrews, who will give a very timely and interesting talk on ‘Plants at the Margin in a Changing Climate’. We also have a full programme of interesting short botanical talks, exhibits, posters, an Identification Helpdesk, the BSBI Photographic Competition and the botanical bookshop, Summerfield Books.

Last year’s selection of mini-workshops on a variety of plant ID topics proved very popular and successful so this year, we plan to offer a similar choice of workshops for beginners, intermediates and more experienced botanists.

Everyone is very welcome to join us for the Conference dinner which is very informal and convivial and follows on after the conference in the same venue.

Bookings for the Scottish Botanists' Conference are essential and MUST be made before the 27th October.

PROGRAMME 

08.45  Exhibitors Arrival

09.30  General Arrival & tea & coffee

10.15  Welcome - Simon Milne, RBGE Regius Keeper & Chris Metherell, BSBI President

10.25    The BSBI Scottish Year - Jim McIntosh, BSBI Scottish Officer

10.40    The BSS Report – Julia Wilson, BSS President

10.50    Urban Flora of Scotland: Notable finds 2015-2019 – John Grace

11.00  Morning coffee & tea

11.30    Atlas 2020 – the final steps – Pete Stroh, BSBI English Officer

12.00    BSBI Annual General Meeting - Ian Strachan, Chair BSBI Committee for Scotland - or Lunch and view exhibits

12.15  Lunch and view exhibits

13.30  Mini-workshops – First Session - or lunch and view exhibition

14.30  Mini-workshops – Second Session - or view exhibition

15.30  Afternoon tea/coffee

15.45  Afternoon short talks

15.45    Twinflower Research & Conservation Project - Diana Gilbert

16.00    The North Face Survey – Ian Strachan

16.15    Blue Sow-thistle (Cicerbita alpina) in Scotland - Aline Finger, RBGE

16.30  Question & Answer session – a chance to have your say!

17.00  Plants at the Margin in a changing climate – Prof Robert Crawford

18.00    BSBI Photographic Competition Results; Awards & Close

18.30  Conference Dinner at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Charges

A flat £20 fee will be charged to cover organisation costs, workshops, speakers' expenses and teas and coffees. The RBGE staff canteen will be open for lunch - but the cost of lunch is NOT included.  Everyone is most welcome to join us for a three course Conference Dinner, followed by tea or coffee at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh after the main talk, for £30 per person.

Exhibitors

We rely on exhibitors to generate botanical interest and would encourage all participating botanists to put their interesting botanical findings on display. Please give the title of your exhibit or poster and how much space you require when booking. Due to limited space large requests may have to be reduced. Please also email an abstract of your exhibit or poster of no more than 225 words to Liz Lavery by the 26th October.

ID Mini-workshops

We have the following workshops:

An introduction to grasses, with Jay Mackinnon*** SORRY FULLY BOOKED***
An introduction to ferns, with Heather McHaffie*** SORRY FULLY BOOKED***
An introduction to The Vegetative Key, with Polly Spencer-Vellacot
An introduction to the BSBI Database, Chris Metherell
Firs (Abies) with Matt Parratt *** SORRY FULLY BOOKED***
Duckweeds with Helena Crouch & Fred Rumsey***SORRY FULLY BOOKED***
Difficult species-pairs in the herbarium, Ian Strachan
Make your own grapnel, with Jeff Waddell

Space is limited on all the ID Mini-workshops and booking is essential. We ask for up to two choices when booking. As workshops become full I'll remove them as options.  First come - first served! Last year everyone got on the workshops they booked - or that they were able to book.

Note that the Introduction to grasses, ferns and the BSBI database workshops are likely to be too basic for VC Recorders.  Remember the Mini-workshops, like all the talks are entirely optional, and you may choose to take time out at any point to have an extended lunch break with friends, to view the exhibition and posters, or to visit Summerfield Books or get out into the gardens for a breath of fresh air.

Photographic Exhibition

If you are planning to enter the BSBI Photographic Competition, remember to send your entries to Natalie Harmsworth by Friday 18^th Oct 2019. Full details of the competition are on the BSBI website here. To recap briefly; the 2019 competition has two categories: simply 1) Native and 2) Alien. Photographs should be taken in Britain or Ireland, but don't have to be taken during 2019 and you don't have to enter both categories. However, there is a limit of two images per category per entrant.

Winners will be selected by a popular vote by those attending the Scottish Botanists' Conference.

Personal details

When you book you will be asked for your name, hometown and organisation / position.  This information will be appear on your name badge and on the list of participants, which will be distributed to fellow participants beforehand, to help you get to know one another.  Your email address will not be shared with third parties (other than Ticket Tailor, the operators of this booking page) and will only be used to keep you posted about this event and to let you know about next year's.

Refunds

Sorry we are unable to refund due to cancellation with 7 days of the event.