1994 Oxford 9th July One Day Meeting
For the Oxford meeting on 9 July which was led by Dr Roger Heath-Brown ten members met at Port Meadow to examine the plants of the Thames backwaters and floodplain. The highlight, naturally, was Apium repens, which was compared with nearby A. nodiflorum, and the various differences were duly noted. The area provided other good diary fillers, including Limosella aquatica, and, near the car park, Ceratochloa carinata. Lunch was taken at Godstow Nunnery, at the other end of the meadow, where Aristolochia clematitis was in full flower. The afternoon started at the Parsonage Moor reserve, a rich area of fen, which provided Potamogeton coloratus and Gymnadenia conopsea ssp. densiflora. Unfortunately Dactylorhiza traunsteineri, though identifiable, was well past flowering. The final stop of the day was at the neighbouring Dry Sandford Pit reserve, where the plants included Equisetum variegatum, almost extinct in this unusual southern outpost.
Also on 9 July a party of 20 members met at Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire. The meeting began with a picnic lunch, allowing the social niceties to be dealt with and thus leaving the afternoon for serious botany! A member writes: "The leader Mr Bingley gave us a brief history of the fen and we were able to purchase a plant list from the visitor centre. Of the 200 or so species listed we must have seen most, some like Ranunculus lingua forming spectacular flowering stands. The small mill pond was filled with Utricularia vulgaris flowering beautifully, and some time was spent keying outJuncus species, to obtain J. articulatus, J. subnodulosus, J. inflexus and J. bufonius. We were taken to see Urtica galeopsifolia, a very interesting plant which has now been recorded in similar habitats throughout East Anglia. At the end of the day Viola persicifolia was seen with three mature plants in seed and nine small seedlings. A most enjoyable and successful meeting."
Mr Geoffrey Kitchener took a joint party of the WFS and the BSBI to visit several sites in the Darent valley. West Kent. Although 16 July was one of the hotter days of a pretty hot summer, 25 people turned up undeterred for a day of quite serious study as well as simpler enjoyment. The principal subjects of study were first, Rumex hybrids at Otford Palace Meadow, with an intergeneric grass hybrid, X Festulolium loliaceum to provide variety; and at the end of the day, near Halstead, Epilobium crosses, of which five were identified. Other hybrids noted during the day were that between Potentilla anglica and P. reptans, P. x mixta; and Galium x pomeranicum, the cross between Lady's and Hedge Bedstraws. Hybrids, however, were not all. There were three species of Mullein, Atropa belladonna and Vicia villosa; but the highlight of the day was undoubtedly a valley bank with a fine chalk flora including tens of thousands of Pyramidal Orchids and a rare West Kent appearance of the Lizard Orchid. The latter was first observed in 1993 and, as several spikes were seen this time, it is to be hoped that this colony will prove more persistent than previous sporadic appearances in the vice-county.
The final meeting of the 1994 season was in North Cornwall and was led by Mr Harry Watts. On Saturday 3 September, eighteen participants crammed into cars and spent the following ten hours visiting about a dozen sites on the Camel Estuary. The plant list was extremely long and included many unusual native species as well as naturalised ones. A saltmarsh brought Cochlearia x hollandica, cliff grassland Spiranthes spiralis and a sheet of Gentianella amarella, cliffs gave two named and one un-named local sea lavenders and a sandy beach Catabrosa aquatica and Polygonum oxyspermum ssp. rail. The day ended with a fine stand of Eryngium campestre and a patch of Genista tinctoria ssp. littoralis. On Sunday, Harry Watts took the seven members who were able to stay on to sites further inland. Particularly impressive was Rosenannon Bog. Among many more attractive plants to be seen during the day were the rarities Epilobium komarovianum, Hypericum undulatum and Physospermum cornubiense. The extent of what was on show is demonstrated by the fact that one of those present added 25 to his Parnassus list. So concluded the 1994 programme. In this Magazine is a large part of the list for 1995 and it promises to be as fruitful of enjoyment as its predecessor. New members are especially welcome at the meetings, whether main or local, and we hope very much to see many new participants during the coming months.
E. NORMAN