2003 Collyweston Northants 27th July One Day Meeting
We met up outside Collywestem Churchyard where we encountered on the nearby road verge Rumex pulcher (fiddle dock). Poa compressa (flattened meadow grass) was found on a nearby wall top. We next stopped at Collyweston Quarry in hope to refind Hypochoeris maculata (spotted cat's ear). I was shown a plant back in the mid eightees but in recent years one of the last remaining plants was dug up. I am worried this species may now be lost from Northants altogether. Species that were found in the quarry included Genista tinctoria (dyer's greenweed), Cuscuta epithymum (common dodder) and in a nearby cornfield bordering the quarry there was abundant Chenopodium hybridum (maple leaved goosefoot). This is rare in Northants and it was a new species for me. Getting a new species each year is becoming very hard for me.
Wakerley Woods produced this time Dipsacus pilosus (small teasel) in flower in the carpark. The biggest surprise was finding a number of Epipactis purpurata (violet helleborine) in flower where I have not seen them for nearly ten years due to the increasing bramble scrub. A number of plants were flowering where a bit of scrub had been cleared. A plant that was found in one of the forest rides not in flower but where I have not seen it before was Vicia sylvatica (wood vetch).
BRIAN LANEY