1995 New Forest Hampshire 4th to 6th August Main Meeting
The New Forest was as lovely as ever this weekend, but the dry summer had meant much last minute replanning for the leaders Gill Read and George Forster. They met about 16 of us on the Friday evening to talk about the Forest and the plants we were to see, and on Saturday we set off to explore a number of sites in its western half.
Cadnam Common and its environs are home to many of the Forest's classics, for instance Chamomile Chamaemelum nobile and Wahlenbergia, but the most interesting plant we saw was Equisetum x bowmanii, the hybrid of E. sylvaticum and E. telmateia which has only recently been identified there. In a boggy area nearby we found the Bog Orchid Hammarbya paludosa after much searching, as well as many other plants of the habitat such as Bog Pimpernel Anagallis tenella.
Next we went south along the Bolderwood Ornamental Drive where we had lunch in a very crowded car park and saw Gaultheria shallon in both flower and fruit, also Hypericum elodes (Bog St John's Wort). Then we made our way to Vale's Moor, finding first the elusive Rhynchospora fusca (Brown Beak-sedge). Further on, we parked by the road with bog on both sides. On one side we could compare three species of Juncus and three of Drosera. Those who wandered across the road were surprised to find another member of the Droseraceae whose name seems to translate as Venus' Mousetrap, i.e. Dionaea muscipula. How did such a plant, with four flowering stems, come to be there?
We finished the day at Holmesley where Rosa gallica was spreading over the old railway. Also on view were Silaum silaus (Pepper Saxifrage) and Thelypteris palustris (Marsh Fern).
Sunday was another hot and sunny day. We explored the eastern part of the Forest, again noting the pressures on the flora of the increasing numbers of cattle, horses and people. In the Matley area we were shown the hybrid Hypericum x inodorum, also a hybrid Senecio, S. x ostenfeldii. Other plants seen included Euphrasia anglica and Sparganium emersum (Unbranched Bur-reed) in full flower in a ditch below a bank. We looked at Beaulieu for Eleocharis parvula (Dwarf Spike Rush) but could find no flower.
At Hatchet Pond we lunched with many other New Forest visitors and plenty of wasps. The use of citronella repelled the wasps, but attracted fruit flies! In this area we found many plants that we had seen the day before but also plenty of others for which Hatchet Pond and its environs are famous, among them Galium constrictum(Slender Marsh Bedstraw), Baldellia ranunculoides (Lesser Water Plantain) and the lllecebrum verticillatum shining like a coral necklace in the bog. Other treasures around were Pilularia (Pillwort) with its pills, Lesser Bladderwort Utricularia minor with flower and a few patches of Elatine hexandra (Six-stamened Waterweed). A final took in at Crockford Bridge gave us notably Ranunculus lingua (Spearwort) and Centaurium pulchellum (Lesser Centaury).
To find such a wealth of plants, from ferns to orchids in two days and in such a dry summer needed very efficient organisation, especially considering the amount of last minute planning that had to be made. We are all indebted to the leading driver who managed to guide all the cars along busy forest roads and into car-parks without losing any; also to those who stayed with the cars to ensure their safety, and so made possible the quick transfers out of cars to the plants and back again. But we are particularly grateful to Gill Read and George Forster for the many days of work they had put in to make sure our visits were both informative and enjoyable. A very successful weekend!
HILDA HORDER