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In memory of:
A hybrid horsetail, Rosy Saxifrage, ferns and a microscope
A happy childhood which inspired a lifelong interest in science.
At Easter 2024, I went for a walk with a friend to Llanddwyn Beach, on Anglesey and found myself boasting. “Do you know my Taid (Welsh for grandfather) has a hybrid horsetail named after him that was discovered here at Newborough?” (1).
I then struggled to describe what a horsetail (or Equisetum) was to my friend “It looks pre-historic” I said, “and a bit like a bottle brush cleaner”, “it’s existed since dinosaur times”. I doubted myself and checked, googled it and, yes, indeed found Equisetum is described as a "living fossil", and modern horsetails first appeared during the Jurassic period (150-200 million years ago). (Image from: 2)
This was the main thing I remembered about my Taid being famous for, this hybrid horsetail being named after him in 2002. I think I mainly remember it because he made it onto a TV programme with Botanist Trevor Dines. My maths teacher at school had seen the TV programme and said “now I understand why you love science”. Sadly, my Taid passed away about a year later in 2003, when I was studying AS levels in Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Maths. I went off to study Natural Sciences at Cambridge in October 2005 and he would have been so proud. I remember desperately wanting to discuss with him all I was learning and his distinct absence.
I re-read his obituary “… he witnessed firsthand the changes to the landscape and wildlife of North Wales wrought by farming, forestry and tourism… he save(d) a fine wetland in the east of Anglesey known as Cors Goch from becoming a rubbish dump, and this action led … to … the North Wales Naturalists’ Trust” (3).
Wow. I don’t think I’d appreciated his impact as a child. With all the talk of sustainability being more on the agenda, I’d forgotten how passionate my Taid was about conservation. I remembered the Saturday “Fungi” walks on Anglesey as a child with the North Wales Wildlife Trust, but had no idea he’d be involved in setting up such an important organisation (4).
Saturday morning 25th May 2024, I was lying in bed listening to Radio 4’s today programme and I heard them talk about re-introducing a plant to the Cwm Idwal area of Eryri (Snowdonia). I didn’t catch the plant name, other than the news reporters gently mocking it saying it sounded like an outgoing MP. “I wonder if my Taid would’ve known about that?” I pondered to myself. “I’m sure he’d love this news story”. And so, I opened the BBC News website, hoping to find out the name of the plant, so I could tell my Mum about the news story and ask her if my Taid had known about it. I found the article on the front page, I found the plant name easily: Rosy Saxifrage, and as I scrolled down the article (5) I read the line: “The next part of the story has the quality of folklore - in 1962 a teacher and conservationist called Dick Roberts was in Cwm Idwal on a school trip.” I couldn’t believe what I was reading. I was breath taken. Dick Roberts was my Taid. 21 years after he passed away, he’d made the BBC news website. I read on, “I feel quite humbled to be working with part of Dick Roberts’ legacy.” Wow. Me too. I adored my Taid.
My happiest memories as a child were nearly always with my Taid. My Taid was an “amateur” botanist. I use the term “amateur” because he never received payments for his work studying flowering plants and fauna. He grew up on the Welsh hillside near Bangor, on a small holding where he spent hours getting to know the wildflowers. During the 2nd World War he ended up meeting my Nain (Welsh for grandmother) and they moved back to North Wales, initially to Betws-y-Coed and later to Bangor where he lived from 1955 until he passed away in 2003
We visited my Taid (&Nain) almost every Saturday, arriving at their house just before lunchtime, and I was always most excited when I arrived, and he already had the microscope out. He’d usually be doing chromosome counts of Polypodys, his favourite fern. I loved looking at this microscopic world and was enthralled at the idea that all the inheritance patterns of plants (&animals) could be packed so tightly into something so small. I was captivated. I loved the different shapes and colours down the microscope. We’d wander around the garden, finding leaves and petals and then gently dissecting them to examine ourselves.
Prof. Julia Jones from Bangor University let me know that the Rosy Saxifrage story had been covered on the BBC breakfast– and joyfully found his name mentioned twice.
I could barely believe it. My Taid was a humble man, not seeking fame or fortune. But content to look at the beauty of flowers, draw them and spend hours trawling fields in Anglesey inventorying the flora and fauna there. He never learned to drive, and so my Nain drove him around Anglesey in their little Ford Fiesta with packed lunches.
Aged 8, what did I want for Christmas? A microscope. No questions asked. Easy. My parents duly obliged and purchased a plastic microscope from the Early Learning Centre. My Taid made then take it back. No granddaughter of his would have a “toy” microscope and he promptly ordered me a “proper” microscope.
(Note: I’m wearing a jumper with sheep on, as my Taid loved sheep too!)
My Taid, inspired a lifetime interest in the microscopic biological world. My study of biochemistry as an undergraduate and later PhD in leukaemia and postdoctoral positions had all spawned from these times. I particularly liked the microscopy aspects of my project on NETs.
I scoured the rest of the news coverage, my Taid’s name wasn’t in the original press release, or other coverage (6-9), though the Guardian and the Welsh language version of the BBC article mentioned him by name (10-11). How did it end up in the BBC article, I wondered? As fate would have it, the BBC journalist was heading to Liverpool, where I now work at a lecturer and programme director of biomedical science. She offered to meet for breakfast. It was a joyful breakfast where I shared stories of my childhood, including visiting Pili Palas in Anglesey and walking in Cwm Idwal (see photo with my Mum and sister). The BBC reporter listened patiently.
So, what can I learn from this story? Other than feeling the joy, that I felt when I was around him as a child. I re-read his obituary again: “Dick was always happy to share his knowledge and experience.”, “with a worthy reputation for his prompt, informative and courteous responses” That’s the sort of lecturer I long to be.
He had such integrity. I remember him teaching me about academic integrity. In the days before Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V, or generative AI, there was still the possibility of plagiarism, or forgetting to acknowledge sources of information. His diligence and his respect for others meant he was always keen to fully recognise other’s works. I’m so glad his work is being recognised and acknowledged.
One of my roles at the University of Liverpool is to develop practical classes, and reflecting on how formative playing with the microscope was during my childhood, has surely given me renewed enthusiasm for giving students’ opportunity to “play” and learn by doing. Certainly, one of the practical classes students will undertake will be microscopy. I’m keen to get them to use their powers of observation. Having an eye for detail, and small detail is important as a scientist. Notice the little things. It was surely noticing a “piece of a plant that had washed down a path”, which saved the Rosy Saxifrage.
There is so much more I could write, but Richard Henry (Dick) Roberts – my Taid, even 21 years after your passing, you’re my inspiration.
References:
(1) Wats24p145.pdf (bsbi.org.uk)).
(2) British Wild Plant: Equisetum x robertsii Hybrid Horsetail (ukwildflowers.com)
(3) I Obituaries.pub (bsbi.org.uk)
(4) home page | North Wales Wildlife Trust
(5) Extinct ‘mountain jewel’ plant returned to wild - in secret location - BBC News
(6) Rosy Saxifrage reintroduced into Wales after 62 years extinct - Plantlife
(7) Extinct plant returns to Eryri after 62 years | Bangor University
(8) Press Release | Media | National Trust
(9) Extinct Plant returns to Eryri after 62 years | The Bangor Aye
(10) Extinct mountain plant reintroduced to secret location in north Wales | Wales | The Guardian
(11) Planhigyn prin yn dychwelyd i fynyddoedd Eryri - BBC Cymru Fyw
(12) Post note: I even discovered someone had bothered to make him a Welsh Wikipedia page. R. H. Roberts - Wicipedia (wikipedia.org) (Who knew that there was a Welsh Wikipedia?) I’d love to know who did!
(Posted Wednesday 29th May 2024, by Elinor Chapman)
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