If you don’t know what there is, how can you protect it? Sarah Woods guides us through a walk in flowers
I walked the 81 miles from Sanquhar to Carlisle in the middle of July – the perfect season to catch a huge number of plants in flower.
It is incredibly important to understand what grows wild where; it’s hard to support and protect species if you don’t understand their habitats, distribution and character. Avenues of human travel, such as Slow Ways routes, often throw up interesting species, and walking with others (whether fully fledged botanists or beginners on a treasure hunt) brings a community and excitement to your finds.
I walked with my friends Anna and Cressida (see another of our Slow Ways walks here). Our plan was to record as many different species as possible, submitting the data to the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (@BSBIbotany) to add to their database of botanical records, that helps support research and conservation.
We saw invasive species that have escaped from gardens or are spreading under their own steam (often thanks to unintentional human activity) along the route, but also plenty of encouraging native and neophyte species; everything from daisies to orchids. The pick of the finds was spotting Jacob’s Ladder (Polemonium caeruleum), a fascinating lilac-purple flowering plant that has been recorded less than 800 times in history in Scotland, and only six times before in Dumfriesshire.
To illustrate our discoveries, I created this scrollable collage of photos of the recorded species (including a few non-plants!). Enjoy!
Sarah Woods
Sarah is Fundraising and Engagement Manager for the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, and in the words of her friend Cressida, “Sarah is the most active person I know. She plays in numerous sports teams, and spends every spare moment hiking. She is never short of facts about plants and nature. She’s exceptionally wise, easy-going and adventurous.”
Sarah, Cressida, and their friend Anna walked another trail of Slow Ways, 80 miles through Northumberland from Berwick to Alnwick, and you can read that very moving tale here.