Dr M had planned to put a day aside last term to tidy his office, it didn’t happen! A tidy desk is a great motivator allegedly, so what does that mean for Dr M who has always seen himself as a bit of a Dr M-otivator!? Albert Einstein and Roald Dahl had messy desks! That’s good surely?!
Dr M looked out of his window and notices – it’s raining again! Roger Brugge of the Meteorology Department at University of Reading, puts the recent rains in context: “after a dry start to December 2013, a total of 165.3 mm (roughly 6.5 inches) of rain was recorded in the 28 days ending on 8 January 2014.”
Dr M put his hand deep into the warm wet webness, otherwise known as the internet, and pulled out this moist, clammy and dankly fascinating feature on fungi! Yuk!
Dr M is particularly fond of social media (at least those he understands how to use!) for communicating his passions for field botany and plant ID to a wider audience, and increasingly to young people. He was therefore delighted to find, via the Annals of Botany (AoB) blog listed on Louise Marsh’s BSBI publicity and outreach blog, a link to a great lecture by
Learn more »
Dr M loves it when his students work gets published! Last month it happened again when Amy Denness had her MSc Plant Diversity dissertation work on the taxonomy of the non-native invasive species Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) published.
The BSBI 2013/2014 New Year’s Day Plant Hunt is over and the results announced, this set Dr M thinking… why not try out this super eXtreme botanical concept on the University of Reading Campus…?
2013 was drmgoeswild.com’s first Christmas and he got so excited hanging up his botanical stockings and all, awe bless! Launched in April/May 2013 drmgoeswild.com took off (viewing wise) in the Summer and has grown steadily since, now receiving around 3000 views per month.
Dr M Goes Wild’s first Christmas has been wet rather than white, but at least there has been a frost or two to capture these seasonal images to wish you all a Happy New Year and much eXtreme botanising in 2014!
Dr M is relaxing for the festive season and offers this morsel from his table of festive botanical fare for your delight and delectation! It is never ceases to amaze Dr M what you can find on the internet these days. For example this very short scrap of a video on YouTube which demonstrates how to pronounce the word Poaceae!
‘Tis the season for jolly party games and Dr M is proud to present the World eXclusive botanical party game: eXtreme Carpology: seeds, fruits and flowers! Created for the BSBI Annual Exhibition Meeting in November 2013 by Christine and Waheed, two of Dr M’s Plant Diversity MSc students at University of Reading.