2003 County Waterford Irish Republic 19th to 21st July Main Meeting
As it was only a small group of four and I could see we would struggle to fit all that I had planned to do into three days, the meeting was changed into a four day event. A beautiful sunny morning greeted us at our starting point on Friday at Belle Lake. With the water much higher than had been expected, we could not walk around the shore of the lake but did manage to find Isoetes lacustris (quillwort) and Elatine hexandra (six-stamened waterwort). Moving onto Fomaght Strand, I surprised the party by finding a well-hidden specimen of Dactylorhiza majalis ssp. occidentalis (western marsh orchid) amongst the rushes. There was plenty of Eleocharis uniglumis (slender spike rush) and some large clumps of Juncus acutus (sharp rush).
On entering DunmoreEast we stopped to look at a patch of Sedum confusum (lesser Mexican- stonecrop) with a few yellow flowers left. The churchyard provided Selaginella kraussiana (Krauss's clubmoss) and on the old walls we had Hebe x franciscana (hedge veronica) and Petroselinum crispum (garden parsley) self-sown. Growing nearby was Ceterach officinarum var. crenatum (rustyback) and climbing over the scrub was Delairea odorata (German ivy). A bush of Olearia traversii (ake-ake) was just poking its head above the gorse and an adjoining field was a blaze of yellow Chrysanthemum segetum (corn marigold). Along a forest ride at Ballygarran we saw Luzula multiflora ssp. hibernica which is much more slender and dainty compared to the other two subspecies of heath wood-rush. We had to wait for a five-minute downpour to end before we could see Rumex crispus ssp. uliginosus on the muddy shore of the Clodiagh River. This dock has very narrow strap-like leaves.
Another sunny start to the next day welcomed us to Ballinattin where we had Sorbus devoniensis in a roadside hedge and Equisetum hyemale (rough horsetail) in a marshy spot under some trees. Our long walk of the day was out to Tramore Burrow, a large area of sand dunes. The saltmarsh was covered in Limonium humile (lax- flowered sea-lavender), which was just starting to flower; in a week or so the whole area would become a haze of blue. The sand hills had an abundance of Senecio jacobaea var flosculosus (rayless ragwort) looking very strange without any petals. Asparagus officinalis ssp. pros-tratus (wild asparagus) was much easier to find than I had expected. I much enjoyed leading, especially as I was treated to a pub lunch at the end of eachday by the four members.
PAUL GREEN