The story of two botanists who travelled to Orkney and Shetland to study plants more than two centuries ago – and an opportunity to create new types of botanical records through photographs, drawings, collage and stories.

James Robertson came north in 1769 from the Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, where he was a gardener; he also recorded plants in the Hebrides and the Highlands. The young Yorkshireman Charles Fothergill visited in 1806. But what would you like people to know about our plants in two centuries’ time?

Rebecca Cornwell brings you a selection of their manuscripts and travel journals and asks you to create your own record of a plant growing in the wild, with images, locations, the name that you know it by, and any special stories. We can think of this then, she says, as part of an ongoing collective recording process stretching from past through present to future. “We can all help to to care for plants by sharing what we know about them and, together, create our own Orkney Science Festival Flora.”

She will provide a variety of creative materials, and if you are happy to have your work photographed, she will be able to make a digital copy of the output from the workshop. You are welcome to bring your own printed plant photos to include in your record.

Rebecca Cornwell is a postgraduate researcher in the Institute for Northern Studies and the Centre for Mountain Studies at UHI, working in partnership with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. She has a background in science teaching and outreach work, including St Andrews Botanic Garden.

Rebecca Cornwell’s visit is funded by the Scottish Graduate School for the Arts and Humanities