fern world newsletter issue 8
DESCRIPTION
The Spring 2014 edition of the Fern World Newsletter - the online news source for members of The British Pteridological Society, and fern enthusiasts everywhere!TRANSCRIPT
Fern World
BPS Newsletter - Spring 2014
Issue 8. Produced by the BPS Publicity & Marketing Team
Front Cover Image : Gymnocarpium dryopteris
Photography : Liz or Alison Evans unless stated
Fern World Editor’s Letter
Above: Gymnocarpium dryopteris, also known
as Oak Fern - our Society’s emblem.
As always, if you have any suggestions
about the content for the newsletter,
please feel free to contact me, Liz Evans,
at the Publicity email address:
We are trialling a new method of informing
BPS members of the publication of the
Newsletter, and so the old mailing list will
be inoperative for the time being. Hopefully
non-members will see that a new issue is
available through links on our blog, and
through Facebook and Twitter.
Further information about the society can
be found on the BPS website at:
http://www.eBPS.org.uk/
Hello & welcome to edition 8 of the
Fern World Newsletter! This is the online
Newsletter of the BPS, the Society for fern
enthusiasts. Compared to the last few
years, we seem to have escaped with a
very mild winter - although if we get snow
in March again I may have spoken too
soon!
If you are looking for some winter sun-
shine, I am very pleased to be able to
share the BPS fern trip to La Palma with
you on pages 4-7.
The Education sub-committee have been
busy too, and you can read about some of
the projects they have been involved with
on pages 8-9.
We are also excited to introduce another
Special Publication with this issue - Ken
Trewren’s guide to the Dryopteris affinis
complex, which will be published next
month. Look out for the flyer on page 11.
I have managed to include all this year’s
Dates for the Diary - these take up the rest
of the issue, starting at page 12.
I hope you enjoy reading, and I am looking
forward to sharing lots more ferny activities
with you in Autumn! Don’t forget to let me
know at the usual Publicity address if there
is anything you would
like to see in the next
edition of Fern World.
Contact the Publicity Team : [email protected]
Fern News in Brief
BPS Photographic Competition, 2014
A reminder to members, who should have received full details about the competition with
their Autumn Mailing. If you were meaning to send an entry and haven’t done so yet, don’t
worry - there’s still time! The closing date for the competition is 30th March 2014.
There are 3 categories for the 2014 competition:
Class One: Fern(s) in a natural (wild) landscape.
Class Two: Cultivated fern(s) in a house, greenhouse or garden.
Class Three: Item or object with a fern-related theme.
Entries (which must be previously unpublished) will be displayed at the AGM in London on 12th April 2014, and winning entries will be decided by members at the AGM. Winning en-tries will be included in a special feature in The Pteridologist.
If any members need further submission details, please check on the BPS website.
“Fern Friday” on Facebook!
Every Friday for the last few weeks,
we have been uploading a new Brit-
ish Native fern to an album on the
Fern World Facebook page.
The idea is that weekly updates will
keep our audience interested, and by
the end of the project there will be a
basic visual guide to all the British
Native ferns available online.
It has been great fun to do so far, and
has received a good response from
our “likers” on Facebook - although it
must be said, another album featur-
ing fern cultivars has also proved to
be very popular!
www.facebook.com/pages/Fern-
World/158140624207890
Don’t forget the BPS Website : www.eBPS.org.uk
BPS La Palma Trip
The following account is
an abridged version of
what will appear in next
year’s Bulletin - many
thanks to Yvonne Golding
and Alison Evans for pro-
viding the words and pic-
tures ~ Fern World Editor
A group of us escaped
the English rain and
storms in January to
spend a pleasant week
in La Palma, ably
guided by Yvonne Gold-
ing and Roland Ennos
who had already spent a
week on the island investigating the best
fern sites. We stayed in the Hacienda San
Jorge, an apartment hotel situated in a
splendid botanical garden, with a large
swimming pool, and just across the road
from the beach. The foyer of the hotel has a
wonderful display of ferns – bliss!
Above: The foyer of the hotel
La Palma is the most North-Westerly of the
Canary Islands, lying in the Atlantic Ocean,
four hundred kilometres off the North Afri-
can coast. The highest point is on the rim of
the giant crater, the Caldera de Taburiente,
and is almost 2,500m. The island has sev-
eral different ecological zones. The wetter
slopes of the North and East are home to
laurel forest, the haunt of woodland ferns.
In contrast the drier lower regions and the
South and West house a xerophytic com-
munity composed mostly of succulents,
with xerophytic ferns being common in the
lava flows. We spent 2 days in each of
these zones, a fifth day visiting several var-
ied sites including the observatory on the
highest point, and we had a free day to
spend as we wished.
Top: BPS trip members (Photo: Yvonne Golding)
Contact the Publicity Team : [email protected]
BPS La Palma Trip
Our two days in the laurel forests were at
La Galga and Los Tilos. The woodland
ferns were looking wonderful with giant
Woodwardia radicans draping the sides of
the gorges, shoulder-high Diplazium cauda-
tum, in some areas with Vandenboschia
speciosa growing underneath, and exten-
sive colonies of three Adiantums – A. capil-
lus-veneris, A. reniforme, and A.raddianum
growing on the sides of the tracks and
streams. We also saw beautiful specimens
of Asplenium onopteris and Asplenium
hemionitis, and lovely newly-flushed fronds
of Dryopteris oligodonta.
Above: Yvonne with Woodwardia radicans (Photo: Roland Ennos)
Right top: Trichomanes speciosum
(Vandenboschia speciosa)
(Photo: Yvonne Golding)
Right : Asplenium filare subsp. canariense (Photo: Yvonne Golding)
There were also several highlights during
our two days in the drier parts of the island.
In the lava fields near Monte de Luna, we
found some splendid specimens of Asple-
nium aureum, as well as A. octoploideum
and A. filare subsp. canariense. We also
found several colonies of the diminutive
Ophioglossum lusitanicum (see overleaf),
and some very photogenic clumps of
Cosentinia vellea, Notholaena marantae
(now given the name Paragymnopteris ma-
rantae!) both overleaf.
Don’t forget the BPS Website : www.eBPS.org.uk
BPS La Palma Trip
On our way to the second lava-field site we
stopped before the main east-west tunnel
to explore a wet, wooded lane, where we
found Asplenium monanthes. The variation
in climate on the island was brought home
to us when we later emerged on the west
side of the tunnel in sunshine! We explored
the garden of the visitor centre and spent
some time on the lava fields before driving
in to the Caldera de Taburiente.
This is a site full of geological interest, al-
though difficult going in places because of
the boulder-strewn path. Here we added
Pteris vittata, Cheilanthes maderensis (now
called C. pteridioides) and Equisetum
ramosissimum to our list for the week.
Roland amid Diplazium caudatum at La Galga
(Photo: Yvonne Golding)
Top: Cosentinia vellea
Above: Ophioglossum lusitanicum
Notholaena marantae
Contact the Publicity Team : [email protected]
BPS La Palma Trip
On our last day, we visited Mirador La
Tosca in the north of the island, famous for
several large dragon trees, but also with
ferny interest, although the sides of the
path had been strimmed in the week be-
tween Yvonne and Roland’s visit and our
visit! After lunch we visited Barranco de
Gallego, where we reminded ourselves of
the woodland ferns, and found a single
Pteris incompleta plus a single ‘ceterach’,
probably A. aureum.
Asplenium aureum at Monte de Luna
We then drove on to the observatory site
and parked by Roque de las Muchachos,
where our car thermometers were reading
‘zero’ and a blizzard was swirling round us.
We still managed to find a little plant of As-
plenium septentrionale in a rocky crevice,
and a lovely plant of Cystopteris – species
uncertain as it was not fertile.
Right top: Barranco de Gallego
Right: Mirador La Tosca with dragon trees
Our holiday was rounded off by a splendid
meal at the restaurant ‘Sadi’ in Los Canca-
jos. Thank you very much to Yvonne and
Roland for an excellent week’s ferning. The
full account of this trip will appear in the
Bulletin in Spring 2015, with a list of all the
other ferns that we haven’t had space to
mention here.
Contact the Education Group : [email protected]
Education Group News
Last year was a good year for the BPS in
working with organisations such as the Botanical
Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI), the Royal
Horticultural Society (RHS), and the Natural His-
tory Museum to name but a few. It makes sense
for us as a relatively small organisation to show-
case ferns at events hosted by much larger organi-
sations, who have the resources to publicise
widely and attract large numbers of people to their
events. Last year, our stands at the Hampton
Court Flower show and the Big Nature Day event
at the Natural History Museum were seen by thou-
sands of visitors.
We should not underestimate the importance of
smaller scale events, however, as they provide op-
portunities for more in-depth communication with
interested members of the public. Bioblitzes and
guided walks are good ways to raise awareness of
our native ferns. Members of the BPS Education
group were involved in bioblitzes at the Royal Bo-
tanic Gardens Edinburgh, and at Foxglove Covert
Nature Reserve at Catterick Garrison last year. In
addition, Frank McGavigan led a walk in Geilston
Gardens (National Trust for Scotland) and together
with Mary Gibby, a joint meeting with the BSBI in
Puck’s Glen. Learning about the fern life-cycle, and
the features of our common native ferns, seems to
have a ‘wow’ factor for people who are interested
in plants but for whom ferns have been a closed
book.
This year we will be taking part in a Bioblitz in
Logan Botanic Gardens on 27th and 28
th June. A
second guided walk will be held at Geilston Gar-
dens on August 9th, and Scottish members Heather
McHaffie and Bridget Laue will be investigating the
possibility of a similar event at Falkland Palace.
We hope to be able to resume our guided walks at
the National Trust gardens at Nymans later this
year. If you live near a National Trust property that
has a good selection of wild or cultivated ferns,
please let us know so that we can investigate the
possibility of having guided walks in these loca-
tions too.
The Field Studies Council field centres at Blen-
cathra and at Kindrogan have also been involved
with BPS members in creating fern gardens and
fern trails at the centres. We may be able to extend
this to other FSC centres in future, in particular to
those where fern identification courses are held.
We hope to have a stand at the Tatton Park RHS
Flower Show from 23rd
to the 27th of July, and also
to participate in any RHS Plant Society open days
that are held in future. We are also planning to
have a stand at any future ‘Big Nature Days’ at the
Natural History Museum, and in 2015 we would
like to repeat our very successful ‘Ferns and Fos-
sils’ event at Manchester Museum. Does your local
Museum have any natural history events where we
could showcase the BPS? Please let us know!
Spreading the word about ferns through collaboration with other organisations
(Photo: Mary Gibby)
Contact the Education Group : [email protected]
Education Group News Sharing fern sightings with iSpot
iSpot was developed by the Open University along with
OPAL to encourage the public to explore and engage
with nature. iSpot now has 33,500 registered users, who
have added over a quarter of a million wildlife observa-
tions. Worldwide, over 11,000 different species have
been observed on iSpot (the figure for the UK and Ire-
land is around 8,000 species). All this activity is thanks to
the enthusiastic, knowledgeable and friendly community
of iSpot users who volunteer their time to help each other learn about wildlife.
To see all fern observations on iSpot the best place to start is with the species dictionary pages, which allow
you to browse down to family, genus or species level etc. On each page what you are shown is the most re-
cent set of observations on iSpot. The BPS and over 100 other organisations are now badged on iSpot,
which means that one or more people are shown as representing the organisations concerned to help iden-
tify submissions from the public. If anyone else in the BPS is interested in contributing to iSpot and being
badged as a BPS representative, please get in touch!
http://www.ispotnature.org/
Field Studies Council Fern Courses
James Merryweather runs his popular ‘Fern Guide’ identification course at Blencathra Field Study Centre in August. We are developing a collection of British native ferns in the garden there as a teaching resource. There will also be self-guided trail leaflets for beginners and for more experienced botanists, so that people
can learn from the collection whenever they visit, not just when the course is in progress.
James’s course runs from 17th to 22
nd
August. There are also fern identification courses at other Field Studies Council Centres:
Kindrogan (Heather McHaffie, July 4th to
7th), Rhyd-y-creuau (Chris Metherall,
August 8th to 11
th) and Preston Mont-
ford (Mark Duffell, 19th August).
Further details can be found on the FSC website:
http://field-studies-council.org
Left: James Merryweather, Alison Evans,
Roland Ennos & Yvonne Golding at
Blencathra Field Study Centre. Photo: Andrea Leng
Don’t forget the BPS Website : www.eBPS.org.uk
Special Publications
You may remember in the last issue of Fern World we included a flyer for John Edgington’s
book Who Found Our Ferns? We are pleased to say that sales of this Special Publication
have been very good, and we would now like to introduce the next two publications, which
will be available very soon.
Some Taxa Within The Dryopteris Affinis Compex - A Field Guide is a tribute to the work of
the late, and much missed, Ken Trewren. It will be published in April and will be available
with free postage in the UK to BPS and BSBI members until the end of August. Please see
the flyer opposite for more details about this publication.
Also coming soon to the Special Publications catalogue: The Jones Nature Prints - Nature
Printing and The Victorian Fern Cult by Michael Hayward. Michael has done extensive work
on these beautiful and rare prints, made at the end of the 19th century. They provide a fasci-
nating insight into the fern varieties that were in cultivation at that time. The book includes
the stories of the people involved in making these prints, and information on the techniques
of nature printing. It comes with a searchable resource disc, which has a full set of the prints
and the ‘memoranda’ sheets that Col. Jones wrote to accompany the prints.
And for fans of fern history, BPS Special Publication No 11, available now, is a must! It is a
CD containing volumes 1-9 of The British Fern Gazette along with a listing of British ferns by
E J Lowe. Michael Hayward has hand edited the set of files to allow accurate searching
with Adobe Reader, and the original photographic illustrations have also been enhanced.
Contact the Publicity Team : [email protected]
Dates for the Diary 2014
April 12th
AGM London
Spring Indoor Meeting at the Natural His-
tory Museum in London. In addition to the
main AGM business, the meeting will be
themed around members' visits to see
ferns worldwide.
Contact : Pat Acock (Alison Paul will be
hosting)
May 17-24th
Capo di Ponte, Italy
A chance to explore the ferns of Northern
Italy.
Leader : Enzo Bona
Contact : Paul Ripley
May 24th
Yorkshire Group
Moonwort surveys, Grinton near Reeth.
Leader : Barry Wright
May 31st
Scottish Group
Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh; Ophioglossum.
Leader : Mary Gibby
June 7th
East Anglia Group
Cambridge University Botanic Garden
Leader : Paul Aston / Tim Pyner
June 14th
South-East Group
Angley Wood near Cranbrook, and Hole
Park, near Rolvenden, Kent.
Leaders : Paul Ripley and Pat Acock
June 21st
Savill Garden, Surrey
A chance to see a wide range of ferns and
other plants in a beautiful setting. The gar-
den holds the National Collection of hardy
ferns.
Leader : Julian Reed
Don’t forget the BPS Website : www.eBPS.org.uk
Dates for the Diary 2014
June 21st
Yorkshire Group
South Yorkshire. Ancient woodlands of
Prior Royd and Wheata Wood. Wentworth.
Leader : Paul Ruston
June 27-29th
South Wales
Based at Brecon, including upland sites in
and around the Brecon Beacons, moist
woodlands further west, and two garden
visits.
Leaders : Brian and Sue Dockerill
June 28th
North West Group
Roudsea Woods and Orchard Cottage.
Leader : Alec Greening
July 5th
North West Group
Southport Botanic Gardens and Michael
Hayward’s Garden.
Leader : Michael Hayward
July 5th
South-East Group and Wessex
Group
Steep, Hampshire, and West Dean Gar-
den, near Petersfield, Hampshire.
Leaders : Peter Tindley and Julian Reed
July 12-13th
Yorkshire Group
Weekend in Wales to celebrate the 30th
Anniversary of the Yorkshire Fern Group.
Based around Betwys y Coed.
Contact : Alison Evans
Details of all the Meetings are also available
on the Meetings Calendar:
www.my.calendars.net/ebps
Contact the Publicity Team : [email protected]
Dates for the Diary 2014
July 12th
Scottish Group
Dumfriesshire, Cryptogramma crispa at
Mennock Pass and Thelypteris palustris
near Southerness.
Leaders : Adrian Dyer and Bridget Laue
July 23rd-27th
Tatton Flower Show
The BPS hope to have a stand.
Contact : Yvonne Golding
July 23rd
South Wales & The Borders Group
A field outing to Corndon Hill, Radnorshire,
about 5 miles north of Bishops Castle.
Leaders : Brian and Sue Dockerill
July 26th
Wessex Group
New Forest, Royden Wood.
Leader : Josephine Basil
July 27th
Scottish Group
Cramond Island, Edinburgh; Fern ID tour.
Joint meeting with BSBI
August 2nd
Yorkshire Group
Ingleborough.
Leader : Bruce Brown
August 9th
Scottish Group
Geilston Garden, fern ID tour.
Leader : Frank McGavigan
August 9th
North West Group
Hutton Roof and Pear Tree Cottage.
Leader : Alec Greening
Don’t forget the BPS Website : www.eBPS.org.uk
Dates for the Diary 2014
August 14-17th
Southport Flower Show
A chance for you to help at the show, en-
thuse to the public about ferns and / or dis-
play your ferns.
Contact : Michael Hayward
August 23rd
South-East Group and East Anglia
Group
The Swiss Garden, Old Warden, Biggles-
waden, and Waldy Pierozynski's garden.
Leaders : Paul Ripley and Pat Acock
August 30th
South Wales and The Borders
Group
Visit to Tim Brock’s garden and its envi-
rons, Tregaron, Ceredigion.
Leader : Tim Brock
August 30th
Scottish Group
Stob Coire Sgriodain, West of Cairngorms;
Clubmosses.
Leader : Roger Golding
September 6th
East Anglia Group
Mill Green, Ingatestone, Essex. Joint
meeting with Essex Field Club.
Leader : Tim Pyner
September 13-14th
North York Moors
Based at Whitby and themed around Ken
Trewren's local fern study areas for Dryop-
teris, Trichomanes and Polypodiums. Vis-
its to Ken's garden, local woods and
moors.
Leader : Bruce Brown
September 27th
Scottish Group
Autumn Indoor Meeting, Lenzie, Glasgow.
Host : Frank McGavigan
Don’t forget the BPS Website : www.eBPS.org.uk
Dates for the Diary 2014
October 5th
Autumn Indoor Meeting
Chelsea Physic Garden, London. An op-
portunity for members to visit the 'Thomas
Moore fernery' and other fern collections
within the garden. Talks will also be given.
Contact : Mary Gibby
October 11th
Polypodium Cultivars, Kyre
An opportunity to see and discuss Martin
Rickard's National Collection of Polypodi-
ums which includes cultivars and species.
Leader : Martin Rickard
October 11th
Yorkshire Group AGM
AGM at Learning Centre, RHS Gardens
Harlow Carr, Harrogate.
Contact : Bruce Brown
Details of all the Meetings are also available
on the Meetings Calendar:
www.my.calendars.net/ebps
October 18th
North West Group AGM
AGM at Holehird Gardens, Windermere.
Contact : Peter Campion
October 18th
East Anglia Group
Autumn Indoor Meeting, Southend-on-
Sea, Essex.
Contact : Tim Pyner
October 22-November 2nd
Japan
This event is supported by, but not organ-
ised by, the BPS.
Contact : Pat Acock
November 8th
South-East Group
Autumn Meeting, Battersea Park, SW Lon-
don.
Contact : Peter Blake
For Meetings Information : [email protected]
Contacts
General Secretary:
Membership Secretary:
Meetings Secretary:
Editor of Pteridologist:
Editor of BPS Website:
Merchandise Organisers:
Spore Exchange Organisers:
Regional Group Contact details:
Yorkshire Fern Group
Leader: Bruce Brown
Email: [email protected]
South East
Leaders: Paul Ripley and Pat Acock
Email: [email protected]
East Anglia
Leader: Tim Pyner
Email: [email protected]
North West England
Leader: Peter Campion
Email: [email protected]
Cornwall
Leader: Ian Bennallick
Email: [email protected]
Scotland
Leader: Bridget Laue
Email: [email protected]
South Wales & Borders
Leader: Brian Dockerill
Email: [email protected]
Manchester & North Midlands
Leader: John Grue
Email: [email protected]
Wessex
Leader: Josephine Basil
Email: [email protected]