Fern World

BPS Newsletter - Autumn 2014

Issue 9 Produced by the BPS Publicity & Marketing Team

Front Cover Image : Asplenium scolopendrium

Photography : Liz or Alison Evans unless stated

Fern World Editor’s Letter

Hello & welcome to the Autumn

edition of the Fern World Newsletter!

This is the online Newsletter of the

BPS, the Society for fern enthusiasts.

As you may have already noticed, our

website, ebps.org.uk has had a make

over! We hope that the new design will

make using the website easier - all the

important parts of the old website are

still there - plus some extra features as

well! Pages 4 & 5 of the Newsletter will

look at some of these new features in

more detail.

We have had another successful year

at events and shows, winning a gold

medal at RHS Tatton Park and a cup at

Southport, too. Pictures from these

events can be found on pages 6 & 7.

Above: The home page of the new website

The Education Group have been busy

again this year, and you can read

about what they have been up to on

page 8. Many of you will already be

involved in recording your fern sight-

ings, and on page 9 we feature a new

way to make your records accessible -

Living Record.

Page 10 features some of the late Jack

Bouckley’s fern collection which has

been relocated to RHS Harlow Carr,

and page 11 gives a brief look ahead

to what 2015 holds in store.

As always, I hope you enjoy this edi-

tion of Fern World, and if you have any

ferny news to share, please don’t hesi-

tate to let me know!

Liz Evans, BPS Publicity Officer

Contact the Publicity Team : Publicity@eBPS.org.uk

Fern News in Brief

Autumn Mailing Online

In an attempt to limit unnecessary

costs, we have once again this year

produced an electronic copy of the Au-

tumn Mailing, which has been sent out

to all members who have provided us

with an up to date email address.

Hopefully, this will have already

reached you (paper copies have been

sent only to members who do not

seem to have a current email or didn’t

give us their details) but if you haven’t

seen the link yet, the Autumn Mailing is

available through the website here:

ONLINE AUTUMN MAILING

Calling fern photographers!

We now have even more ways to

share our love for ferns online! With

thanks to BPS member Ashley Basil,

we now have a thriving photography

group on Flickr. You don’t need to

have an account to enjoy browsing the

pictures, so why not have a look here:

www.flickr.com/groups/2681067@N23/

However if you do have an account,

please feel free to join the group!

We are also now on Instagram which

is a mobile photo sharing app - thanks

to BPS member Razvan Chisu for set-

ting this up! Below is a screen grab

showing the Instagram account.

Website in Focus

The Homepage

We have had a shake-up of the BPS

home page - it now features a slide-

show of ferny pictures; an overview of

the Society’s activities as well as a

regularly updated News section; and a

“Join” button which is encouraging

people to sign up to the BPS. We also

now have the option for members to

pay their subscriptions via PayPal.

Right: A screen-grab of the BPS News sidebar

Events & Reports

One of my personal favourite features

of the new website is the upgraded

Events page. Before, we had a simple

calendar view of upcoming events,

which while it was functional, lacked

the capacity for giving detailed informa-

tion about the location and content of

the event. We now have an excellent

Events calendar which will give details

of the organisers, Google Map direc-

tions to the location, and lots of other

relevant information that may be

needed before the event.

As an add-on to that, we have also

started a mostly pictorial and anecdotal

“Reports” section where a nominated

person who has attended an event can

submit pictures and a report before the

official Bulletin write-up is published.

You can find the reports page HERE

BPS Blogs!

You may have seen the Fern World

blog when it was hosted by the blog-

ging site Posterous, and followed it

over to Tumblr when Posterous shut

down. Well now we have the facility to

blog within the main BPS website.

This means that multiple authors can

contribute articles about whatever

takes their fancy (as long as it is fern

related, of course!)

We already have a few blog authors,

but there is always room for more! Is

this something you might be interested

in contributing to?

Why not have a look at the blogs, and

if you would like to start your own, let

us know. Training and support is al-

ways available so don’t worry if you are

new to it all!

CLICK HERE FOR BPS BLOGS

BPS Website : www.eBPS.org.uk

Contact the Web Team : Webteam@eBPS.org.uk

Website in Focus

The Forum

Some of you may already have been

using the Forum which was connected

to the old website, so why not sign up

to use the new Forum as well? We are

having a few technical hitches getting

the old threads transferred over to the

new Forum, but there is already plenty

of discussion going on in there, and

absolutely everyone is welcome.

(Even Equisetum lovers!) We made the

decision to open the Forum up to non-

members as well as BPS members to

help get people involved in pteridology.

All you need to do to register is just

click on the link on the Forum home

page and you will be emailed your log

in details. Of course you don’t need to

register to read other people’s posts -

only if you want to join in the conversa-

tion! Have a look at this link:

http://ebps.org.uk/forum/

The Webteam

At the moment, there is a small group

of five people looking after the running

and upkeep of the website, but we

would be very keen to get some extra

hands on board. Do you already have

an interest in websites? Do you have

a suggestion for content on the web-

site? We would love to hear from you!

Special Publications and

BPS Merchandise

Thanks to PayPal, we have now been

able to make our Special Publications

and BPS Merchandise available to buy

directly through the website. This of

course makes us accessible to a wider

audience than just BPS members.

Spore Exchange

It is also now possible to put in your

Spore List requests through the web-

site. Please note, this service is

only available for BPS members.

Native Fern Page

A photographic list of all the British Natives

There is so much more to see on the

new website! Please feel free to come

and have a browse around. See you

there!

Fern News 2014

Show Success!

The BPS has enjoyed yet another year

of successful stands at shows. The first

of these was at RHS Tatton Park

Flower Show in July, where we had a

stand in the Plant Heritage marquee

called “A Victorian Fernery”. The eye-

catching display proved to be very

popular with both the public and the

judges, and was awarded a Gold

Medal! You can find plenty more pic-

tures from this event under the reports

section of the website, or click HERE

to go straight to the link.

We also once again had a stand at

Southport Flower Show in August. The

theme of this year’s displays was

“Brazil” (apparently there was some

sort of football event there this year!)

and Michael Hayward and team did a

great job catching the judges’ eye with

an impressive display of ferns.

The stand was awarded a Gold Medal,

and also the Curtis Cup, for “the exhibit

of greatest horticultural interest and or

educational value in the show”. Individ-

ual BPS members also came away

with prizes for their fern specimens

shown in competition.

Right: (Top to bottom)

Yvonne Golding with the Gold Medal at RHS Tatton;

The stand at Southport; some of the Southport team;

The “Curtis Cup” Challenge Trophy at Southport

BPS Website : www.eBPS.org.uk

Contact the Publicity Team : Publicity@eBPS.org.uk

Fern News 2014

New Ferns at Nymans!

Patrick Acock, Paul Ripley, and Alison

Evans were at Nymans again this year

to run guided fern walks for the public

and for National Trust volunteers. We

saw some new ferns – beautifully

carved on this massive fallen tree in

the woodland! We were pleased to

hear that there are now several new

colonies of Hymenophyllum tunbri-

gense in the woodland, as fragments

from the colony that became detached

a couple of years ago were replanted,

and several of them have become es-

tablished.

YFG turns 30

The Yorkshire Fern Group celebrated

its 30th birthday this year. As well as a

small party at the AGM, held at RHS

Harlow Carr, there was a week-end

away in North Wales. This destination

was chosen because it was also the

location of the 25th anniversary cele-

bration. One of this year’s National

Meetings was held in the Yorkshire

area, based in Whitby for the weekend.

Below is a photo from the North Wales

weekend, with some Yorkshire Group

members and Osmunda regalis.

If you are interested in joining up with a

regional group (or even more than

one!) new members are always wel-

come, and you can find a full list of

your nearest groups on the website:

REGIONAL GROUP LIST

Above (top): the fern carving

Above: Pat leading a fern walk at Nymans

Education Group

Contact the Education Team : Education@eBPS.org.uk

Blencathra Update

The fern garden at Field Study Centre Blencathra suffered a bit earlier in the year because of an abnormally long dry spell, but Robert Crawford has been keeping an eye on it, and in Au-gust we planted up a new area that Ann Robbins had cleared and then Robert dug over. James Merryweather and his FSC course participants used the garden for teaching and learning about ferns, and he said he was proud to show the garden to the students. Even in its relatively new state it still acted as a teaching resource for British Native ferns, and with the added value of foreign ferns and exotics.

The fern list will need to be revised

next year to include new plantings. A

beginner’s fern trail guide is available

from the Field Centre Office.

Below: Heather at the display table at

Logan Botanic Garden Bioblitz

Above: The Blencathra fern garden

Bioblitz - Logan Botanic Garden

Heather McHaffie and Bridget Laue of

the Scottish branch of the Education

Group attended a Bioblitz at Logan - a

regional garden of the Royal Botanic

Garden of Edinburgh - to fly the flag

for ferns! The ‘dancing’ Equisetum

spores under the microscope proved to

be a popular attraction. The garden

had a number of wild ferns to add to

the ‘blitz and also has a number of cul-

tivated Dicksonia Antarctica tree ferns,

which survive in the mild climate at

Logan. See the full report online here:

Logan Bioblitz Report

Living Record

BPS Website : www.eBPS.org.uk

You can now record directly online onto satellite imagery or mapping, using Adrian Bicker’s excellent LivingRecord application. If you are recording pteridophytes in the UK, whether on a small or a large scale, we would strongly recommend you to sign up. If you sign-up through the website, you will be automatically be included in the British Pteridological Society team. Take a little time to read the online help and User Guide, and start to use this site, which is entirely free. We think you’ll enjoy it! It gives you a personal archive and lets you see your own recording his-tory against other contributors. Any records you make will become available to the vice-county recorders for vetting, and will be incorporated into the county archive.

You can use Living Record effectively on a tablet (e.g. iPad) but only where there is a 3G signal. If you do this, you will be able to use the “GPS: you are here” link below the map to place a new location marker in your current position on the map.

Please find out more on the website:

http://ebps.org.uk/ferns/recording/line-recording/

Jack Bouckley’s Ferns

BPS Website : www.eBPS.org.uk

Jack Bouckley, who was

president of the BPS from 1991 to

1994, had a remarkable collection

of ferns in his Harrogate garden.

Jack died last year and a signifi-

cant part of his fern collection has

been moved to RHS Harlow Carr.

The collection is sited on the main

streamside path by the steps up to

the national Dryopteris collection.

There are several unusual cultivars,

including this ‘scollie’ known as ‘Cork

screw’, and some ferns that we were

unable to name with certainty, as the

labels had gone from some of Jack’s

plants.

Why not visit the collection and see

what you think?

https://www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/harlow-carr

Following their AGM on 11th October,

members of the Yorkshire Fern Group

were shown the collection by Aimee

Browning, a BPS member who works

at Harlow Carr, and who has played a

major role in re-locating Jack’s collec-

tion.

A Look Ahead to 2015

March 27-30, 2015

Guernsey

**This meeting is now fully booked.**

Leader: Andrew Leonard

June 20-21, 2015

Rutland

This will probably be the first time a BPS

group has visited this area to explore ferns,

and as well as the usual woodland and

meadow species, we particularly hope to see

Ophioglossum vulgare. We will be based in

Stamford and our records will be submitted

for the BSBI’s Atlas 2020 project.

Leader: Rob Cooke

July 11-18, 2015

Vercors & Verdon Gorge,

South East France

The tour is almost full as there have been two

earlier notifications but we often have people

dropping out at this stage so there might be

room for 3 more people. Please let Pat know

if you are seriously interested and that you

are prepared to join a waiting list. We will stay

at Vercors for 6 nights and see a variety of

ferns. On the 7th day, we will spend the

morning travelling to the Gorge of Verdon to

see various Aspleniums including the cele-

brated Asplenium jahandiezii, which is not

closely related to any Asplenium in Western

Europe. After a one night stay at a hotel part

way back, we will make an early start the fol-

lowing morning for an afternoon flight back

from Grenoble.

Leader: Pat Acock

July 18, 2015

Oxfordshire

Following their success in 2014, the Cultivar

Group is planning another 1-day national

meeting. This time, it will include visits to Alis-

tair Urquhart’s garden in Kidlington and Nick

Hards’ garden in Didcot. In particular, this will

be an opportunity to see some choice varie-

ties of Polystichum setiferum.

Leader: Nick Hards

September 3-6, 2015

North Wales

Our base will be Criccieth and we will meet

up for briefing on the evening of Thursday 3

September before beginning our visits on the

Friday. During the trip, we will visit a number

of garden and wild sites, the exact balance

depending on the weather.

Leader: Martin Rickard

October 24, 2015

Autumn Indoor Meeting

Glasgow Botanic Gardens.

BPS Events : ebps.org.uk/events/category/meetings/