Last Day Hunt

For five years in the early 1990s we were members of The Wild Flower Society.

The Society was founded in 1886. It's aims were largely educational. Each year members had a printed diary with 1000 of the most common wild flowers found in the British Isles listed. Between March 1st and October 31st you listed everything you found in flower noting where and when you saw it. Each November you sent your diary to an expert who marked it and told you things you had got wrong. You ended up with a score for the year. A degree of competitiveness entered into this. In our top year we had about 750.

There was an extra competition called the last day hunt. On October 31st.it was to see who could find the most still in flower. It was usually won by members in Hampshire or the Isle of Wight.

We learned a lot and had fun. We finally left when Plant Life was formed - the equivalent of the RSPB for plants.

Today my wife Ann was on Autumn Watch Extra on BBC 2 red button service. For 20 minutes she talked with Brett Westwood about how trees and plants spread their seeds. It went well I thought.

You can watch it by putting BBC Autumn Watch in Google and going to Extra and then to Day 4 - 1p.m.

I'm waiting for the film contract.