Southwater

Field meeting reports

Meeting date: 17 August 2008

(Leader: Arthur Hoare)

The idea of this meeting was to follow up the very successful meeting of April 2005 and fill in the gaps left by the missing species. With poor weather forecast I did not expect a large gathering but as it happened the day turned out much better than expected. Twelve members arrived and after the usual greetings and general banter we split up into three groups of four, with each group having a different tetrad to survey. Being so close to the junction of four tetrads none of us had far to walk, in fact one group only managed about 400yds in the whole morning. It was arranged that we should meet up again for lunch after which we joined forces to survey the fourth tetrad. The plan worked well with the three groups producing a total of 208 new records in the morning and all together in the afternoon we added another 94 new records; 302 being a very worthwhile tally for the day.

Arthur’s group headed off to the SE along the Downs Link into TQ12S and soon found Chaenorhinum minus (Small Toadflax) on the disused railway track. In an adjacent damp meadow Dactylorhiza praetermissa (Southern Marsh-orchid) in seed, this being identified by the hollow stem – and having been told that it was to be found there! Back on the track another nice find was Geranium columbinum (Long-stalked Crane’s-bill).

Alan ventured forth with his group into TQ12T and was soon having fun with the critical genus Cotoneaster finding C. franchetii, horizontalis and microphyllus. Many grasses featured in his list including Bromus commutatus (Meadow Brome) and Digitaria sanguinalis (Hairy Finger-grass). Another good find was Rumex x pratensis, the cross between Rumex obtusifolius x R. cripus. I’m sure that this is more common than our records would suggest.

Nick led his group into TQ12M and, having Rod with him, it was no surprise to see Quercus x rosacea, the cross between Quercus robur and Q. petraea in his list. A surprise find was Verbena bonariensis (Argentinian Vervain) which is appearing more frequently of late, no doubt a garden escape but one that could become established and it is worth keeping a lookout for it.

After lunch we all followed Alan in searching the hedgerows and road verges in TQ12N. Verbena bonariensis was seen again and in fact was found in three tetrads. Two of the best finds of the afternoon were Silene coeli-rosa (Rose-of-heaven) and Geranium nodosum (Knotted Crane’s-bill) both of which are new Sussex records. These are all casual garden escapes which were found on a newly seeded road verge, but should not be ignored as they are part of the ever- changing scene. Who knows but that they may become established and turn out be a threat to our native flora.