London Meeting June 30th to 2nd July 2006
Rhinanthus angustifolius(Greater Yellow-rattle)
Cotoneaster frigidus(Tree Cotoneaster)
Cotoneaster x watereri (Waterer's cotoneaster)
Pyracantha rogersiana(Asian Firethorn)
Clinopodium vulgare(Wild Basil)
Anacamptis pyramidalis (Pyramidal Orchid)
2nd July : Croydon and South London Reserve
From St Mary's we drove to Croydon Aerodrome or as i think it is now known Roundshaw Downs. This is a large area of grassland on the site of the old Croydon Aerodrome and after trekking for while across the South London savannah came to the site for plant we sought. Rhinanthus angustifolius (Greater Yellow-rattle is not only a national rarity it is a native plant - quite unusual for this London meeting.
The weather was extremely hot and although one or two of our number preferred to stay outdoors in the shade of trees several of us retired to the darkened rooms of a local club where we sipped cold beer.
From here we went to our last site a nature reserve in South London. I forget to note the name but looking at the records of previous WFS meetings it was probably Howells Hill nature reserve.
The path through a wood led to an open chalkland area where you could see at once that this was an excellent site for plants and insects. We were shown various shrubs including Pyracantha rogersiana (Asian firethorn) and Cotoneaster frigidus (Tree Cotoneaster). Unfortunately for diary keepers neither of these were in flower but in the less Saharan climates of previous years they probably would have retained a few flowers.
A single flower on Clinopodium vulgare (Wild Basil) was surrounded by Anacamptis pyramidalis (Pyramidal Orchid) in profusion. We also saw Cotoneaster x watereri (Waterer's Cotoneaster) but in common with many at this meeting, I had to take Ron's word for this identification as Cotoneasters are a notoriously difficult group to distinguish.