This will be the sixth year that BBT takes part in a walking survey organized by Botanika Sestao and Lurgaia Fundazioa to observe what species are in flower. Due to climate change it would appear to be that many plants are in flower earlier and earlier and the idea of the walk is to ascertain to what extent this is true. Of course it is only after a number of years of observation that the tendencies can be confirmed. The meeting point is at Benta bus-stop at 10:15 (bus from Mungia at 09:45) and from there we will all go to Eneperi. Of course in the case of bad weather we won`t be able to do the walk that day. This was unfortunately the case last year and although we didn`t do it officially a couple of us did it a couple of us carried out the survey and there were over 40 plants in flower. But the most surprising discovery was of a flower that wasn`t in flower, the Glaucium flavum not that we knew what it was but after realizing that the leaf was unusual we sent the photos to the biologist Amador Prieto who easily identified it as the horned poppy / maritime poppy, a flower which has been reported to be extinct in the Basque Country in several occasions as can be seen in this interesting article in the web-page of Botanika Sestao. The fact that we “discovered” this flower just goes to show how the enthusiasm of “citizen scientists” and the scientific knowledge of academics can complement each other.
So, if you are not working on the morning of the 31st December please come and join us, not only on the walk but after it for a couple of drinks and bar-snacks to end the year.
