2003 Northamptonshire 10th May One Day Meeting
Everybody met up at Boddington Reservoir where in a nearby cornfield we found Scandix pecten-veneris (shepherd's needle). A fine plant in full flower was seen. Crataegus oxyacanthoides (midland hawthorn) was also present in a nearby hedge. In a roadside ditch at Lower Boddington we found Geranium phaeum (dusky cranesbill) in full flower. Luckily the plants had not been mown down this time around. At Gayton churchyard, one of the perimeter walls produced the alien Arabis turrita(tower cress) which was in flower but also had the distinctive curved fruit of last year's plants. In a farmyard near Laxton, Ulmus plotii (Plot's elm) was present, a fine standard tree which has so far escaped the Dutch elm disease. I have just sent the site details in for the recent "Elm Map". This is where records are needed of mature elms of any species that have escaped the disease. The continued tour of the county produced at Wakerley Woods rosettes of Astragalus glycyphyllos (wild liquorice) on the woodland roadside edge, a nice collection of Ophrys insectifera (fly orchids) in flower and also the leaves of a colony of Gagea lutea (yellow star of Bethlehem).
At Bamack Hills and Holes, Pulsatilla vulgaris (pasque flower) was present. Members were shown the rosettes of Aceras anthropophorum (man orchid). Much to my delight a number of Carex ericetorum (rare spring sedge) were found in flower amongst the commoner Carex caryophyllea (spring sedge).
BRIAN LANEY