Our resident flora is packed full of remarkable creatures. There are plants that poison predators, others that fight battles while some play mind games with pollinators. We have carnivores and climbers, puppeteers and parasites, beaties and beasts. A few are giants thousands of years old, while others are tiny pinpricks a millimetre across. Botanist Lief Bersweden is intrigued by them all.
In the summer that he left school Lief set out to fulfil a childhood dream – to find every species of orchid native to the British Isles in just one summer. He did so …and then wrote a book about it! (“ The Orchid Hunter”)
As the book demonstrates that quest required ingenuity, stamina and a large dose of luck.
Not content with that, in 2021 he went on a big botanical adventure around Britain and Ireland travelling from Hampshire’s Bluebell woods to the shores of Shetland, to track down our most intriguing and well-known plants. Mindful of the climate crisis he travelled all the way by bike.
His latest book, “Where the Wildflowers Grow”, follows him on that journey as he botanises his way through an entire calendar year, meeting our plants, telling their stories and exploring people’s connection to their local flora. The book is a passionate call to arms to save our remaining flora before it is lost. Leif’s story is an urgent one that echoes the growing environmental concerns of today.
On The Verge and the Seaford Natural History Society are joining forces to bring this outstanding young plant hunter to Seaford. Although still under 30, Lief has not only found time to write two books and tour the UK (by bike, searching for his beloved plants!) but also to complete a B.Sc. at Oxford and a Ph.D at Kew Gardens.
He will be here in Seaford to talk about the incredible diversity of plants and their importance for our climate.
The talk will be at Seaford Baptist Church on Saturday 25th February at 2.30.
Tickets are now available from eventbrite
https://www.wherethewildflowersgrow.co.uk/
Mike Vingoe (Seaford Natural History Society)
