It’s New Year Plant Hunt time again – that time of year when citizen scientists across the country head outdoors to see which wild plants are flowering in the depths of winter, all with the aim of tracking how plants are responding to our changing climate. Led by the BSBI, this fun and accessible project takes place over four days each New Year and is now in its fifteenth year. It continues to grow in popularity and offers a great excuse to get outside, stretch the legs, and blow away the cobwebs after an indulgent festive season. As ever, this year I’ve been out once again, so I thought I’d share a round-up here.

The Annual Heaton Hunt

The New Year Plant Hunt has become something of a tradition in our household. For the last five or six years, we’ve undertaken a ‘hunt’ among the terraces and alleyways of Heaton in Newcastle. More recently, we’ve begun leading this loop as a guided walk for members of the Natural History Society of Northumbria, and this year we were joined by 16 keen botanists.

These extra pairs of eyes proved invaluable, with 65 species spotted in flower during our allotted three hours – a pretty impressive total for Northern England and, at the time of writing, the tenth-longest list submitted in the UK this year.

Our Heaton route is largely characterised by an abundance of familiar urban ‘weeds’, species one would expect to encounter in built-up areas at any time of year. Among the most prolific were Oxford Ragwort Senecio squalidus, Mexican Fleabane Erigeron karvinskianus and Welsh Poppy Papaver cambricum; though we also noted all but one of the BSBI’s top 20 common winter plants.

A few early-flowering species were also recorded, including Common Snowdrop Galanthus nivalis and Early Crocus Crocus tommasinianus, both of which are well-established in a local park.

While most of the species encountered were to be expected, a few surprises turned up during the morning’s walk. Among these was White Melilot Melilotus albus, found in flower on a strip of waste ground near an Asda supermarket. Atlas Poppy Papaver atlanticum also occurred as a garden escape in several places. This species is a relatively recent arrival in Newcastle but is clearly on the rise.

Elsewhere, a few unexpected native species included Tansy Tanacetum vulgare, Creeping Thistle Cirsium arvense and Meadow Buttercup Ranunculus acris, all of which would normally have stopped flowering by now.

So, all in all, we had a very pleasant morning plant hunting. It is always exciting to botanise in urban spaces, and even better when joined by such lovely company. I’ll be out and about a few more times in the coming days, visiting regular haunts at St Peter’s with yet more NHSN members, and hopefully North Shields too, so I look forward to sharing further updates soon.

If you would like to join in with the New Year Plant Hunt, you can do so here.