The Midweek Botany Crew

I keep getting enquiries asking "what exactly is the Midweek Botany Crew?" so here is the story - it's a loose collection of Botanists, who get together now and again and go out botanising. We are based more or less around Oxford (although members come from as far away as Reading) and we choose a site, pretty much at random, then agree a date and off we go.

Skill levels vary wildly: most of us rather modestly say that we are not very good, but actually I think the Crew are quite competent Botanists... we always welcome anyone who is "good" as they can then show us stuff, but we are likewise very welcoming to beginners or Improvers.

All you need is a hand lens and a couple of reference books: our staple one is "The Wildflower Key" by Francis Rose,  but it's kinda fun when everyone brings along a different book, as then we get a lot more information to compare and contrast.

Why are we the "Midweek" crew? Most of us have better things to do at the weekend, and all of us are able to take an afternoon off now and again: I am self-employed so I can arrange my work to suit myself, one or two of the others work, but not every day, and some are retired, or on maternity leave, or have a lot of annual leave to use up, so we pick an afternoon that as many as possible of us can make, and part of the fun is that you never know who exactly is going to turn up!

There is no membership, no fees, no costs: we only go to places that are free, and if anyone wants to look at anything in particular, that's great - otherwise we just wander about for a couple of hours, looking at whatever we can find. (The running joke is that it takes us an hour to get 200 yards out of the car park!) How often we go out depends on how keen we are, and what the weather is like: it's not a regular thing at all, it's delightfully casual.

Often I will have a Crib that I am working on, and the Midweek Botany Crew are fabulous at volunteering to test the crib for me. And yes, they always try to steal them at the end! (I usually let them, unless they have made lots of really helpful notes on them, in which case I steal them back.)

If you live in South Oxfordshire, you are most welcome to come along - email me (Rachy.Ramone@gmail.com) for details.