2006 Danbury 7th June
After what seemed like weeks of rain, the morning of 7th June dawned warm and bright. Twelve of us met at Waterhall Meadows, Little Baddow, an Essex Wildlife Trust reserve on the west bank of Sandon Brook. These are ancient unimproved flood meadows, which formerly flooded regularly but rarely do so today
Primula veris (Cowslip), Saxifraga granulata (Meadow Saxifrage) and Fritillaria meleagris (Fritillary) flower in the meadows in the spring, followed by Galium verum(Lady's Bedstraw), Succisa pratensis (Devil's-bit Scabious) and Silaum silaus (Pepper-saxifrage) later.
However today the purpose of our visit was to improve our knowledge of grasses under Stephen Clarkson's expert guidance. We strolled a short distance into the meadow and sat down amongst our specimens. Stephen first introduced us to the range of reference books that are available on grasses including those by Francis Rose, Roger Phillips, Hubbard, and Hayward, as well as the Collins guide and of course Stace, and the excellent information sheet produced by the Field Studies Council. He explained how we could identify our specimens as grasses as opposed to rushes and sedges, and continued on to draw and describe for us the anatomy of grasses so that we could recognise the parts when prompted to do so by the identification keys. He then distributed specimens of Anisantha diandra (Great Brome) so that we could dissect a flower and carefully examine the parts and also look closely at the ligule.
After this we were sent out into the meadow to find eight specimens and try to identify them from Hayward's key. Amongst the specimens found were Dactylis glomerata (Cock's-foot), Holcus lanatus (Yorkshire fog), Poa trivialis (Rough meadow-grass), Arrhenatherum elatius (False Oat-grass), Cynosurus cristatus (Crested dog's-tail), Alopecurus pratensis (Meadow Foxtail), Hordeum secalinum (Meadow Barley) and Anthoxanthum odoratum (Sweet Vernal-grass). After lunch Stephen distributed specimens of various grasses that he had gathered previously and we identified these under his guidance using various keys and he pointed out some of the distinguishing features to help us achieve the 'jizz'. All in all a very informative, demystifying and interesting day. We all learnt a great deal. Thank you very much Stephen.
SHIRLEY TIMMINS