Winter flower hunt at local park

The flower hunt at Slades Farm began at ten this morning, with the public invited to join in.

The January Flower Hunt event is taking place across multiple parks in Bournemouth, where people are invited to join in the search for naturalised and native flowers that are in bloom when they should not be.

The event is held by The Parks Foundation, an independent charity who work to improve parks and green spaces across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.

Tal McMinn, a team member at The Parks Foundation, said that during these colder months, most plants should be dormant.

The hunt aims to count what has bloomed and repeat the following year. They then compare those records across the years to gain an idea of what climate change is doing to local nature.

According to the Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland, which conducted its own 2026 New Year Plant Hunt, found that around a quarter of species in bloom flowered earlier than expected.

The BSBI and the Met Office suspect climate change is the main cause, but require more data to confirm.

A flower hunt begins today in search of flowers in bloom