***Hurry - Bookings close midnight Wednesday 24 March***

After Atlas 2020 and a year spent largely in lockdown, we are all looking forward to getting out into the field again. And with spring around the corner, this is a great time to meet up! 

We have put together an exciting programme of ten short talks and, at the halftime break, will hold a slideshow of ‘Nice Finds’ from around Ireland. 

All BSBI recorders, members and non-members are very welcome.

Provisional Programme

10:00  Welcome

10:05  Project Save our Schedule 8s! - Debbie Gilles

10:25  Can botany provide a window to our medieval past? - Fiona MacGowan

10:40  Marsh Saxifrage (Saxifraga hirculus)  - conservation in NI - Gareth Bareham

10:55  Discovery of Dune Helleborine (Epipactis dunensis) in Dublin - Gonçalo Santos

11:10  Tea/coffee break with Slideshow of ‘Nice Finds’

11:30 BSBI New Year Plant Hunt 2021 - Jessica Hamilton

11:45 Distribution and ecology of Irish Lady's-tresses (Spiranthes romanzoffiana) in Galway & Mayo - John Conaghan

12:00 Distinguishing large riparian sedges - John Faulkner

12:25 History of Cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus) in Ireland - Noeleen Smyth

12:40 Ireland's disjunct flora - Rory Hodd

12:55 Aquatic Plants Project - Paul Green

13:05 Hectad Refind Project - Jim McIntosh

13:20 Thanks & Conference close

Registration

Registration is essential - so we can email the Zoom link - but there is no fee. However we would be delighted if you would make a small donation to help cover our organisation and admin costs. The Zoom link will be emailed out on Wednesday 24th.

Starting Time

Although the nominal starting time is 10am (don't be late!), you can join up anytime after 0945, so you have a little time to sort things out if there any problems.  If you are unable to join using Zoom we will also be live-streaming using YouTube, and will include a link to that in our email. Everyone is free to leave and rejoin the programme at any time and as many times as you like.

Questions

We would love to hear your questions. And all speakers have allowed a few minutes for questions.  But with so many people participating we will use Zoom in webinar mode which means that while you can see the speakers, they won't be able to see you! So, if you'd like to ask a question, please type it into Zoom's Q&A feature and the chair will relay it to the speaker.

Photographs for show

If you would like to include a photo in the slideshow of 'Nice Finds', please send your pictures to BSBI Ireland Officer, Paul Green.

Recording

The talks will be recorded and we will upload them to the BSBI YouTube channel a week or two after the event - watch out for the links on the BSBI Irish Conferences page. 

Social media

Use #IrishBSBIConference to follow the action on Facebook (@IrishSectionBSBI) and Twitter (@BSBIBotany). 

Photo Credit

Many thanks to Mike Beard for his splendid spring photo above of Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) against a blue sky, an entry to the BSBI Photographic Competition in 2015.