Working in a winter wonderland

I was accompanied on this adventure by Dr Elinor Breman, and our mission was to find these plants, identify them, and collect their seeds, as part of a wider project to store the seeds of Artic flora in the Millennium Seed Bank. 

Arctic plants are experiencing global warming more rapidly than any others on the planet, and so we’re collecting their seeds to protect and conserve them for future generations. 

Our home for the first week was a cosy blue house on the edge of town, facing toward the bay. The view of icebergs calving out the living room window made up for the lack of a flushing toilet! 

The first day was spent shopping for essential supplies and looking for plants in seed. Thankfully, Ellinor and Mikael, two very friendly botanists from the University of Gothenberg, a partner in the project, turned out to be at the local research station and were happy to help us with plant identification. 

On our way home, we collected seeds from Honchenya peploides subsp. Diffusa along the black sand beach as icebergs bobbed by. 

Over the next week or so we collected from crevices in rocky hillsides and beaches, near waterfalls and amongst basalt columns – walking along lava flows and ridges in the biting wind. The flora on the island grows close to the ground to protect against this very wind – the only tree we found was the Salix, growing stunted and shrublike against the rocks.  

The hard work bears a reward at the end of the day. In the evenings we sat outside our little house and admired the view across the bay, as the sunlight stuck around late into the night. On one memorable occasion we harvested ice from an actual iceberg to put in our glasses of whisky. 

We spent a lot of time trying to tell the difference between different species of the same genus, helped immensely by the friendly botanists at the research station.  

One night, we invited them round for pizza and plant identification, and in trying to double the usual pizza recipe, I accidentally quadrupled it, leaving us with far, far too much pizza! Elinor and I were stuck eating the leftovers for days. 

Regardless, we set off into the cold and the wet and began to climb, past the edges of the town where the sledge-dogs were kept through the summer months. I had tried to feed some of the dogs closer to our house, but the guide gave me a telling-off – apparently they’re fed very little in summer, as the weather is so warm they might overheat. 

The weather being too warm seemed ridiculous as my ears froze underneath my three hoods. 

As the day grew wetter and drearier and we grew more and more tired, we eventually turned and headed back to the village, stopping to collect seeds from the Arnica angustifolia that filled the gullies as we went. 

Three days later we were back at the MSB, where the seeds we collected will be dried and stored in the underground vault with the rest of our Arctic collection. The project is supported by the Marris-Webbe Charitable Trust and aims to understand and conserve the beautiful Arctic flora for generations to come. 

It was a bit of a shock being back at my regular work preparing seeds for storage at the MSB, but spending time in the -20C freezer was a whole lot more comfortable after two weeks in the Arctic!