Become a member
WHAT CAN WE OFFER YOU?
The opportunity to learn and share botanical knowledge with others.
A programme of summer field meetings, visiting a wide variety of locations and habitats across the North of England, containing both common and representative plants as well as national rarities. Many of our summer field meetings are within an hour’s drive of Bradford or Leeds but we sometimes have day field meetings further away such as the Sefton Coast and Teesside.
Indoor meetings held throughout the winter, providing a varied programme of talks by both our own members and external speakers. Currently, talks are held via Zoom or at Shipley Baptist Church, New Kirkgate, BD18 3QY.
We usually have an annual holiday further afield over a long weekend to study the representative flora, as well as the rarities, in locations that are not easily reached as a day-trip. Previous annual holidays have included Guernsey, The Brecklands, South Devon, Pembrokeshire, Anglesey, Ben Lawers and the Isle of Skye.
Members can join the Bradford Botany WhatsApp Group which was set up in Spring 2020. It was set up as a way of keeping in touch during the Covid lockdown restrictions and has proved popular with members for sharing their observations and photographs of wild plants.
Members can join the Bradford Botany Facebook Group, set up in June 2024. This was not set up to replace other forms of communication, but is as an additional way for members to interact, for those who like to use Facebook.
Have your say on the running of the Group and put forward your ideas on how the Group can be improved. The Annual General Meeting (AGM) is usually held in October. We welcome suggestions for future field meeting locations/leaders and potential speakers for indoor talks.
Social events: we usually hold an annual meal in spring and a Christmas social event
On each field meeting, the Group normally make a list of the plant species seen which is distributed by email to members at a later date (the list may be distributed some weeks following the field meeting).
Additional information is circulated to members by email when appropriate, for example, to advertise additional field meetings or events run by affiliated groups.
We no longer produce a paper 'Newsletter/Annual Review' but members are encouraged to submit articles for publication on the website to share their thoughts and observations of wild plants.
HOW DO I JOIN?
To become a member, please begin by completing the below Membership Application Form. Your completed membership form can be printed and posted to us with a cheque or can be emailed to us and the fee paid by bank transfer. If you wish to pay by bank transfer, please contact us for the bank details.
You may also wish to view our Frequently Asked Questions page for more information. Please also read our Code of Conduct given below.
CODE OF CONDUCT
Our Code of Conduct is binding on members at all times. Plants covered by this code include the lower order groups of non-flowering mosses, liverworts and lichens, as well as ferns and the higher order flowering species.
AIM
The aim is to safeguard wild flora by minimising the damage we inevitably do when botanising in the field.
Members must always:
- Leave wild plants undisturbed
- Obey the rules of sites visited
- Observe the Countryside Code
Members must never act or behave in any way that could damage the good name or the reputation of the Bradford Botany Group.
HABITAT CONSIDERATIONS
The locations of rare plants are always confidential. Such plants are often in fragile and vulnerable habitats. Never reveal carelessly such sites. Groups visiting such locations need to be kept small.
While on a site, minimise trampling and soil compaction by keeping, as far as is possible, to paths or more durable terrain. Watch where you tread!
After visiting rare plants, cover your tracks. Leave sites as you find them.
Respect requests from responsible bodies not to visit sites at certain times.
Remember that it is illegal to uproot any wild plant without the owner’s permission.
The golden rule should be “take the book or the expert to the plant” and not the other way round.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Rare species must only be photographed, never picked.
Be careful to minimise damage to the habitat when kneeling. Be aware of the damage that your scuffing toes can inflict, particularly to the unseen seedlings of the very plants you are photographing.
Do minimal gardening of surrounding vegetation, by removing only loose or windblown material. Hold or tie back surrounding plants. Never uproot, nor break off, the inconvenient bits in your viewfinder!
As far as possible, restore the habitat to the state it was in when you found it.
A golden rule is to try and photograph a plant in its natural, undisturbed habitat, which also provides authenticity.
WHEN CAN I PICK?
It is illegal to uproot any wild plant without the owner’s permission.
Certain nationally rare plants are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981). It is illegal to remove any part of a listed species.
No specimens of any plant should be taken from nature reserves, nature trails or National Trust properties without authorisation.
Collection of specimen parts should only be done for positive identification, where a voucher herbarium specimen is required, for research purposes or where it will not unduly deplete or endanger the remaining population of the species.
Picking must be restricted to the smallest part.
No part of any rare plant may be picked that will impair its reproductive cycle.
Although an uncommon species may be locally abundant at a site, one specimen only should be picked for group examination.
Indiscriminate picking of even common species is strongly discouraged.
Please click on the following link to view the full Countryside Code: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-countryside-code/countryside-code-full-online-version
For the list of plant species protected under schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 please see the following website. Please note that some species may be listed under a former name:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/69/schedule/8