2003 Breckland 20th - 22nd June Main Meeting
Those who made it through Brandon's traffic jams (Steve did a 21 mile detour, whilst poor Nick was still caught in a three hour standstill at Heathrow) met at Santon Downham Forest Enterprise HQ for a briefing by Alex Bull about the weekend. He introduced us to Nick Gibbons who had kindly arranged the free use of the hall and refreshments. Nick took us on our evening walk on the forest tracks describing the work he was doing with Yvonne Leonard, a local botanist, to re-introduce plants such as Scleranthus perennis (perennial knawel) at suitable locations. We were soon down on our hands and knees (the main feature of the weekend) on the sandy track identifyingthe subspecies prostratus. "It flourishes from being well walked on". We then found Filago minima (small cudweed), Crassula tillaea (mossy stonecrop), Scleranthus annuus ssp. polycarpus (annual knawel), Trifolium glomeratum, T. striatum and T. arvense (clustered, knotted and haresfoot clovers), Medicago minima(bur medick)and Phleum bertolonii (small catstail). Two years after Nick had bulldozed the overgrown firebreak beside the railway line dozens of Arabis glabra(tower mustard) had appeared and there they were towering above the vegetation at the side of thetrack. Trifolium scabrum (rough clover) was found, a poor specimen of Verbascum nigrum (dark mullein) and inside the nearby forest Epipactis phyllanthes(green- flowered helleborine) in bud. We hunted unsuccessfully for Monotropa hypopitys (yellow birdsnest). Many thanks Nick for an excellent walk and also for alerting Lakenheath that the next day a party of botanists would be near the perimeter fence!
Saturday morning found us at Maid's Cross Hill, Lakenheath, many holes and dips where stone was excavated. Sisymbrium altissimum (tall rocket) was growing there, possibly introduced with horse feed during WW1. In the open sandy pits we found Thymus serpyllum (Breckland thyme), Erodium lebelii (sticky storksbill), Silene otites (Spanish catchfly), Vulpia ciliata ssp. ambigua (bearded fescue), Silene conica (sand catchfly), Anisantha diandra (great brome), Phleum arenarium (sand catstail), Ononis repens (common rest harrow) and Minuartia hybrida (fine-leaved sandwort). We moved on to the Icklingham 'triangle' for Populus nigra ssp. betulifolia (black poplar) growing by the road. Descurainia sophia (flixweed) was on the road bank, also Medicago sativa ssp. varia (sand medick).
At the end of an arable field by a large Onopordium acanthium (cotton thistle) we found the 'pawn-broker plant' Solanum triflorum (small nightshade), Amaranthus blitoides (prostrate pigweed), Anthriscus caucalis (bur chervil), Viola x contempta (V. tricolor x V. arvensis) and Medicago sativa ssp. falcata (sickle medick). Another Breckland speciality Phleum phleoides (purple-stem catstail) was growing on a roadside verge, and we were shown the edge of the pit where Veronica verna (spring speedwell) grows. We then moved on to Ramparts Field, West Stow for the lovely profusion of Dianthus deltoides (maiden pink) growing beside the car park. Hypochaeris glabra (smooth catsear) had finished flowering, but Potentilla intermedia (Russian cinquefoil) was in flower, together with another Breckland speciality, Apera interrupta (dense silky bent). Our next stop was Risby Black Ditches, a filled-in chalk pit providing typical chalk grassland species like Asperula cynanchica (squinancywort), Hippocrepis comosa (horseshoe vetch) and Helianthemum nummularium (common rock-rose), but sadly a different crop was growing on the fields, the edges were full of stones and there was no Fumaria parviflora (fine-leaved fumitory) as hoped. This was compensated for by our final stop at Elvedon where along the forest track we found Filago lutescens (red-tipped cudweed), together with Viola tricolor ssp. curtsii (sand pansy) and Potentilla argentea (hoary cinquefoil).
On Sunday we met at Cranwich Camp where Petrorhagia prolifera (proliferous pink) was growing in the concrete cracks of the car park, together with Anthyllis vulneraria (kidney vetch) and Melilotus altissimus (tall melilot), whilst the field had Astragalus danicus (purple milk-vetch), Anacamptis pyramidalis (pyramidal orchid) and Silene otites (Spanish catchfly). At nearby Cranwich Heath we saw Hernaria glabra (smooth rupturewort) and Hypochaeris glabra (smooth catsear) in flower. A hawkweed was later identified by David McCosh as Hieracium acuminatum. Alee also identified Rubus pruinosus and R. boreanus.
Finally we drove to East Walton Common, an area of ridged chalk grassland interspersed with pingoes (flooded hollows) where many wetland plants were found. Carex rostrata (bottle sedge) was compared with C. vesicaria (bladder sedge). Other Carex seen included C elata (tufted), C. disticha (brown), C. diandra (lesser-tussock) and C. viridula ssp. brachyrhyncha and ssp. viridula (yellow). There was a feast of flowering plants to be seen including Utricularis vulgaris (greater bladderwort), Rorippa amphibia (great yellow-cress), Gymnadenia conopsea ssp. densiflora (fragrant orchid), Anagallis tenella (bog pimpernel), Samolus valerandi (brookweed) and Oenanthe fistulosa (tubular water dropwort). Alee also found Rubus tuberculatus and R. nemoralis and Cladium mariscus (great fen sedge) also occurred.
Grateful thanks to Alee for an excellent weekend.
PRISCILLA NOBBS