Marsh Botany Award | |
This award is run in association with Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and was started in November 2000. The award recognises an individual's lifetime achievement and outstanding contribution in the field of botanical conservation. | |
The 2009 winner is Lynne FarrellBotanical conservation in the UK can rarely have had a more dedicated and influential servant than Lynne Farrell. In both her professional life and as an amateur she has brought a passionate style to bear resulting in exceptional success and pioneering outcomes at every scale and in every aspect of botany. To the wider botanical community she is probably best known for her ground-breaking Vascular Plant Red Data Books co-authored with her long-time mentor and colleague, Franklyn Perring. First published in 1975 it introduced a degree of objective assessment to plant conservation prioritisation previously unknown. Together with its successors, it remains the standard tool in setting the direction and raising the profile of plants in peril until this day with the latest comprehensive assessment remaining at the forefront of innovation (Cheffings & Farrell (Eds) (2005)). Perhaps less widely known but of equal significance in terms of securing botanical diversity was her work on the SSSI guidelines (1989) and her pursuit of special protection for Britain’s most threatened plants through their listing on Schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act. But she has been more than a government plant conservationist: her scientific endeavours include Biological Floras for Military and Lizard orchid and she is BSBI vice-county recorder for the Scottish islands of the mid-Ebudes. Other roles in English Nature, Scottish Natural Heritage and their predecessor organisations, have included publishing and management and she spent most of her career as their heathland specialist, combining this with her other work. In her private life she is a lover of art (being an accomplished calligrapher), an expert on Chinese Water Deer and a well respected botanical tour, expedition and field meetings leader. Her enthusiasm both for bringing new people to botany and for pushing everyone’s skills just that little bit further through subtle tests and challenges in the field is widely appreciated if sometimes a little daunting! In recent years she has been at the forefront of driving the nation's response to the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation through Plant Diversity Challenge, and towards the achievement of Target 2 in particular but while her expertise is very widely appreciated, what should also be recognised is the enthusiasm with which she continues to pass on these skills to others. Email: |
Partner:Royal Botanic Gardens | Previous Winners:2007 - Nick Stewart 2006 - Nick Legon and Alick Henrici 2005 - Alan Showler 2003 - David Holyoak 2002 - David Pearman 2001 - Lady Rosemary Fitzgerald 2000 - Dr Phil Watson |
