Balcombe Lake

Meeting date: 20 July 2014

(Leader: Helen Proctor)

An elite group of four members met at Balcombe Railway station, where we added a few missing SPA species.  We relocated to Balcombe Lake, our path taking us near the edge of the Lake and to some wet woodland.  Later, we checked out the sandstone rocks at Balcombe Mill but were unable to find the missing ferns. The objective of the meeting had been to refind missing marginal aquatic species.  However, the margins of the lake and Ardingly Reservoir are now well wooded and open areas are now small. Sparganium erectum (Branched Bur-reed) and Eleocharis palustris (Common Spike-rush) were recorded. The attendance of the West Sussex County Recorder was a bonus.  He named three Rubus species and noticed the hybrid Bindweed Calystegia x lucana by a roadside.  Also seen were Medicago sativa (Lucerne) near the lake and Dryopteris borreri (Borrer’s Male-fern) in woodland.  In all, 33 records were added to the tetrad list, including seven SPA missing species, bringing the total to 384 species.