#164: Dr. Margaret Bradshaw - wildflower advocate

I hope that students will be introduced to a diverse range of people who have worked in the field of natural history - specialising in discrete aspects of the various sub-disciplines - and not just the usual suspects of dead white men.

Margaret Bradshaw is a legend in the field of wildlfower research.

The Guardian has profiled Margaret, who has spent many decades researching the flowers in Teesdale in North Yorkshire. At 97, she has just had a book published outlining the results of her research into the local flowers which developed in a unique mini-ecosystem of Arctic-Alpine flora.

She has also been featured on Countryfile.

This part of the uplands is a seemingly empty landscape, heavily grazed by sheep, but it hides botanical treasures that have been here for more than 10,000 years. Some of the plants can’t be found anywhere else in the UK and – until Bradshaw arrived on the scene – many were unaccounted for.

Bradshaw is the chief caretaker of some of the country’s rarest flowers. She has spent seven decades obsessively studying the unique Arctic-Alpine flora of Teesdale, in the north of England.

We just loved reading this profile of Margaret Bradshaw - deserving winner of our 2023 H. H. Bloomer Award.

Margaret has spent decades studying the plants of Teesdale, and campaigning to preserve them.https://t.co/8stQfR3P4K pic.twitter.com/z6q4ZRNrfC

— The Linnean Society of London (@LinneanSociety) November 3, 2023

On her Countryfile appearance she was asked if it 'mattered' that the flowers were disappearing.

In response, Margarets said: 'Well, does it matter that we have Durham cathedral? Does it matter that we have Stongehenge?'

'What would happen if Durham cathedral was falling down, bit by bit? They'd want to build it up again because it's part of our heritage.

'This is part of our heritage. Much older than Stonehenge. It's 10,000 or 12,000 years old.'