Peter Dowdall: How climate change is shifting when flowers bloom

As temperatures warm plants, including wildflowers, may respond by adjusting the timing of life-cycle events such as flowering

Plants, insects, and wildflowers play a vital role in maintaining biodiversity. File pictures

Horticulture  and botany know nothing about politics and thankfully, instead of having splintered into several societies, the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) remains the biggest and most active organisation devoted to the study of botany in Britain, Ireland, the Channel Isles and the Isle of Man.

This is a society for anyone and everyone interested in the flora of Britain and Ireland. The main role of the society is the study, understanding and enjoyment of wild plants in Britain and Ireland. It does this in many ways, the BSBI supports an education and training grants programme, scientific research and outreach programmes along with publishing newsletters and recording flora distribution and populations in national atlases and county floras.