2002 Cambridge 20 - 21 July Main Meeting
I have attended many one-day meetings of the WFS in the past but this is my first year of having the pleasure of joining the weekend ones. It never ceases to amaze me how far people will travel to come to these sorties and this weekend was no different, with twenty persons driving from the likes of Somerset and Berkshire, to Cheshire and South Yorkshire.
We met on the Devil's Dyke near Burwell. The dyke is an ancient fortification about 7 miles long, built in the 6th or 7th century to keep out the Saxon hordes. Considering it was built by hand it is very impressive indeed and provides commanding views over the Cambridgeshire countryside. Over the two days we attacked it at three different areas giving us a good range of the plants that grow on this chalk bank. Within five minutes we were thrown our fist problem which turned out to be a clump of fragrant Nepeta cataria (catmint). Nodding heads of the equally scented Carduus nutans (musk thistle) dotted the banks and at our feet were the prickly leaves of the picnicker's thistle, Cirsium acaule (dwarf or stemless thistle). The pink spires of Onobrychis viciifolia (sainfoin) were fast going to seed as was Lithospermum officinale (common gromwell). Umbellifers showed their white heads everywhere in the shape of Daucus carota (wild carrot) and Conopodium majus (pignut) with the lime green tops of Pastinaca sativa (wild parsnip) providing colourful alternatives. Some people remarked on the plant; that they rarely see it, yet here in East Anglia it plasters the roadside verges and roundabouts. Continuing along the top of the Dyke we eventually came to a defunct railway line near the village of Reach where we found Anthyllis vulneraria (kidney-vetch), Blackstonia perfoliata (yellow-wort), Calamintha ascendens (common calamint), Asperula cynanchica (squinancywort) and an unusual find of Verbascum pyramidatum (Caucasian mullein). Lunch was followed by turning south-east along the Dyke to find Foeniculum vulgare (fennel), a few heads of Anacamptis pyramidalis (pyramidal orchid), and a swathe of the most delicate blue Scabiosa columbaria (small scabious) foraged by many bees and meadow brown butterflies. Amongst the grasses were several Campanula glomerata (clustered bellflowers) and patches of Euphrasia officinalis (eyebright).
From here we drove in Indian file to nearby Cherry Hinton to view the old chalk pits there. Here there are a line of 40-foot high cherry trees that give the village its name. In the lower pit we came across a clump of Dipsacus strigosus (yellow-flowered teasel) - originally I think from Russia, its multiple flowered heads suffused with apale yellow - and clambering through nearby trees with attendant Clematis vitalba(traveller's joy) was a Lonicera caprifolium (perfoliate honeysuckle) showing one lone berry Both these unusual plants have been known at this site for many years. We then took our lives in our hands and walked single file up a very busy road with no footpath to the Upper (or Western) Pit. In a very small area indeed we came across some lovely finds. One stem of lnula conyzae (ploughman's spikenard) and Erigeron acer (blue fleabane), little specimens such as Linum catharticum (fairy flax), Clinopodium acinos (basil thyme) and scented areas of Thymus polytrichus (wild thyme) The specialities here were clumps of Seseli libanotis (moon carrot), a few disparate stems of a very pale blue, but very large flowered Linum perenne ssp. anglicum (perennial flax) and the glaucous leaves and tiny flowering umbellate heads of Falcaria vulgaris (longleaf). Earlier this year I found Ophrys apifera (bee orchid) and Bunium bulbocastanum (great pignut) but I am afraid that the pignut proved elusive this time. I forgot to mention the weather as this was the height of summer. The morning started off bright and extremely warm but then went rapidly downhill culminating in a tremendous thunderstorm drenching several of our participants. The Sunday was no better; we saw not an ounce of sunshine. The skies were resolutely leaden and in the afternoon the wind was quite chilling and the temperature plummeted requiring us to dress up well, though two of us refused to succumb and continued to wear shorts!
Sunday morning found us at one of the jewels of English Nature - Chippenham Fen Apparently less than a hundred hectares but with a growing amount offenland being managed. This is being achieved this year with the help of six male water buffalo acquired as surplus requirements to a Welsh buffalo mozzarella farm. We were shown around by a voluntary warden and within a very short time we were all strung out as people went at their own pace to identify plants. The first ride gave us a few specimens of the grand stately Cladium mariscum (fen sedge) and everywhere else the ground was covered with Juncus suhnodulosus (blunt-flowered rush) interspersed with the odd purple spike of Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife) and one specimen of Serratula tinctoria (saw-wort). The meadow area gave us Carex hostiana (tawny sedge), Schoenus nigricans (black bog-rush), Mohma caerulea (purple moor grass) and its fen subspecies M caerulea arundmacea, and one plant of Gymnadenia conopsea (fragrant orchid). On the way back we saw hidden amongst the rushes the pale pink flowers of Anagallis tenella (bog pimpernel). Going on this clockwise tour of the Fen brought us to our creme de la creme area and in quick succession we had Silaum silaus (pepper saxifrage), fully opened Epipactis palustris (marsh helleborine) and the especially rare Selinium carvifolia (Cambridge milk parsley), told by its strongly ribbed stem and the minute prickle on the end of each leaflobe.
After lunch the stalwart few remaining went on to another part of Devil s Dyke situated by the July racecourse. Where we parked our cars we got straightaway Campanula trachelium (nettle-leaved bellflower) and an impressive clump of Bumas orientalis (warty cabbage) with its fruits now developing their warty excrescences. Being buffeted by the cooling wind, we found along the base of the chalk ridge lots of Thalictrum minus (lesser meadow-rue) with their tiny flowers showing their obvious pendant stamens and Filipendula vulgaris (dropwort). We soldiered on past the commentary boxes encountering both Ononis repens and 0. spinosa (common and spiny restharrows) along the way. Our raison d'etre for walking this far was to see if there were still any Himantoglossum hircinum (lizard orchid) in flower. We were rewarded by 40 or so spikes but most past their best, but one two-foot high specimen still enthralled us with its corkscrew-like appendages. This brought us to the official end of our outing, but I went to the far southeastern edge of the Dyke to count the population of Geranium sanguineum (bloody cranesbill) there for the Plantlife survey and managed over 300 plants. One final minor detour to nearby Soham to finish off the day to see Senecio paludosus (giant fen ragwort) at its original site, where there were half a dozen six-foot high plants in a ditch. A rewarding weekend but it would have been even nicer with some sunshine.
STEPHEN CLARKSON