Having fun with flowers

Identifying wildflowers is not an easy thing for the amateur naturalist. 

There are, after all, over 900 Irish species. However, cheap digital cameras and camera phones have made the task a lot simpler. For conservation reasons it’s inadvisable, and sometimes illegal, to pick a flower and bring it home.

However, you can bring home a selection of pictures of the plant — flowers, leaves, stems, fruits or seeds — and then consult a book or a website. I rely heavily on Zoe Devlin’s excellent Wildflowers of Ireland and her website www.wildflowersofireland.net.