Inception, development and launch
The Treborth Moss Trail had its origins on a cold rainy day in Spring 2023. The North Wales Non-flowering plant group had met to record bryophytes in a garden in Harlech. During a splendid lunch, kindly provided by the owners, Philippa Thompson and Sue Grahame had a conversation about how the BBS Centenary and National Moss Day might be celebrated in North Wales. Sue, a regular volunteer at Treborth Botanic Garden, suggested that the garden might be the perfect place to create a Moss Trail. A meeting with Natalie Chivers, the curator at Treborth, followed and she gave her enthusiastic support throughout the process. The team was delighted to be joined by Sophia BenJeddi, then a bryology MSc student at Bangor University, who added much needed IT skills to the project – amongst other things suggesting a digital StoryMap to complement the trail.
Sue, Philippa and Sophia decided on a route and chose which sites and bryophyte species to include. The final trail leads through the woodland, with 10 sites and 12 species along the way.
Philippa’s photographs and suggestions about which species to feature, and their verifications, were invaluable, but it was Sue who designed the trail, researched and wrote the text for the leaflet and liaised with Natalie as well as our designer on layout and presentation.
The cost of design and printing of the leaflet were funded by Treborth Botanic Garden, Bangor University. The Moss Trail launched on National Moss Day (October 21st, 2023) and has been a great success.
The StoryMap
After leaving Bangor in 2023 to pursue dissertation research, Sophia continued to work on the interactive StoryMap from afar: basing her Map design on the original leaflet and adding an iNaturalist component. The idea behind the StoryMap was to improve accessibility for younger generations while providing an opportunity for those inspired by the Treborth Moss Trail to take their exploration of the World of Bryology to the next level.
You can find the StoryMap here: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/0ed1630a8e354b9289244b88f2b97685
The impact
Already, the Moss Trail has been invaluable for public engagement, and it is anticipated that the newly created StoryMap will further enhance the experience.
We invite you to join us in walking the Moss Trail at Treborth Botanic Garden!
Philippa Thompson, Sue Grahame, Sophia BenJeddi and the Treborth Botanic Garden, February 2025