Banstead Botany Blog

Farmland birds in decline!

2011-12-01T08:54:00.002Z

Clathrus ruber - science fiction?

2011-10-08T22:33:00.009+01:00

Sometimes the natural world throws up sometime totally off the wall and I think that this is the case with Clathrus ruber, a fungus related to the more "normal" Stinkhorns although it bears no similarity in appearance to them.

More like a mockup of a brightly-coloured geodesic dome for use in Dr Who!

My photos were taken this week, in of all places Banstead High Street where it has been appearing roughly at this time each year for at least the past three years on what was originally a pile of wood chippings. I never seem able to capture a perfect mature specimen, the one in the upper picture is starting to autodigest and the other has only just burst out of its"eggskin".

Like Stinkhorns it has a fetid smell and attracts flies as confirmed by the second picture.

Looking it up I find it is a native of the Meditteranean but has been spreading northwards in Europe!Definitely an oddball!

Harvest time in Banstead

2011-09-20T23:15:00.011+01:00

Tis the "season of mellow fruitfulness" * in north Surrey (and time for my irregular farming rant!) a season we associate with the golden browns of sun-ripened crops!

On Canon’s Farm, to the south of Banstead, the cereal crop was harvested quite a while ago but now it is the turn of the largest crop this year, Flax.

Back in April the fields were prepared for sowing in the traditional way (!), wipe out by spraying with systemic weed killer followed by light cultivation rather than ploughing and then seed drilling. Sadly this included the fields that had been under set aside for many years, these were not even cultivated but the seed drilled directly into the blasted soil.

With our unusually dry early summer, there was considerable variation in germination across the fields and in places the crop is rather sparse compared to some years.

A stroll over the fields two weeks ago showed the tell-tale tractor tracks that indicated that soon it would be harvest time. The fields had again been sprayed with total weed killer, presumably to enable uniform ripening of the seed by ensuring all plants were dead! Within 48h green had disappeared now all is a uniform brown no doubt the crop will be cut in the next few days.

As a townie I know little of good agricultural practice and no doubt those readers with a more rural bent and knowledge will tell me this is the way it is always done. Furthermore that agriculture is a business and this makes it most profitable. However that does not stop my blood from boiling when I see this going on.

Canon’s Farm has been put on the blogging map by Steve Gale and David Campbell as an area that provides excellent birding. However over the past twenty years I have walked the area and seen the demise of most common farmland birds as breeding species in the area, surely at least in part the result of intensive farming causing a lack of a consistent supply of food, seed and insect.

Even without the usual applications of insecticide, fungicide, fertilizer and selective weed killer that cereals get, the use of two applications of total weed killer just five months apart virtually guarantees a reduction in floral diversity that is frightening. Of course this is inevitably followed by a collateral reduction in invertebrates, birds, etc., etc.

I would be less disturbed if the use of chemicals was carried out in a careful manner calculated to minimize the impact, e.g. by the use of buffer zones around the edges of fields etc. Certainly in Banstead this doesn’t happen. The picture on the right shows how much care was taken during the recent attack to ensure spray does not reach the adjacent hedgerow!

I accept that farmers must use the most efficient means possible because they are in business but agriculture as an industry is the only one for which there is little or no policing of pollution from the processes used. A massive amount of chemicals ranging from fertilizers to insecticides are applied to our countryside, the only control being financial. Not only do they casue damage at the point of application but many if not most drain into water courses etc. This is should surely be unacceptable!

Just to add insult to injury and show how much they care, what do they do with the empty containers? Throw them into Banstead woods of course (a SSSI)! The picture on the left shows one they did last year!

* Apologies to Keats

Banstead Countryside Day 2011!!!

2011-09-06T19:14:00.008+01:00

This year has passed me by! Few posts on the blog, few trips out and not even the chance to follow many blogs or forums! Hopefully however that is about to change and I shall have more time to catch up and indulge.

First job however is to prepare our (BCC) presentation for the Banstead Countryside Day to be held this coming Sunday 11th September and starting at 11.00. This event is organised by the inexhaustible staff and volunteers of the DCMP (Downland and Countryside Management Project) and it truly celebrates the countryside with special focus on the local area.

The Conservators have had a stall since it started, it has got better and better each year and I can guarantee a great day out for everyone. Over the years it has grown but not been commercialised and it remains a local event. It truly celebrates Banstead Countryside.

It costs nothing for entry although I think programmes are for sale (which of course you should buy), for a whole days entertainment that has to be great value.

See you there. Even better come up and have a chat at the Conservators stall!

Butterfly (Lesser) bonanza

2011-06-02T10:48:00.008+01:00

A day out with friends in the New Forest yesterday turned into an unexpected orchidfest. The supposed reason for the visit was to see if, in this early season Wild Gladiolus was out, it wasn't! However at the same time we managed to get some pictures of the white variant of the purple form of Early Marsh Orchid, Dactylorhiza pulchella, although I must admit because of the the problem of photographing white flowers in bright sunshine they were not exactly brilliant. It seemed then that the job was done and socialising was called for!

However on the way to the pub we decided to drop in at a site for Lesser Butterfly Orchid, Platanthera bifolia, just in case there were a few in flower.

There weren't, there were thousands! Scattered over a large area heath growing amongst Ling and Bracken, they were a spectacular sight especially where in places they were also with Heath Spotted Orchid, Dactylorhiza maculata. Lesser Butterfly is not a species I see very often and so for this year when our local orchids have taken such a hammering it was especially satisfying to see.

Powder-blue alien!

2011-05-31T19:09:00.006+01:00

Work and holidays means I have not had much time to get out and about locally recently and so not had anything to write about.

However that changed yesterday whilst gardening when I happened to spot this little aphid on a leaf! I think it is the craziest thing I have seen in years.

At first I thought it was dead and had been infected with a fungal parasite but once I had got the camera, it naturally started walking away and it took me a while to get a picture. Apparently one of the wings is damaged and I still suspect it has some disease. A quick Google for woolly aphids did not come up with any of this colour and believe me the colour is right.

So: is there anyone out there who knows what it is? If not I will have to post it on the Natural History site, perhaps I'll do that anyway.

I did and it is Phyllaphis fagii (Beech Aphid). Apparently quite common, I shall have to look more closely at the aphids!

Barberry blog

2011-03-04T19:32:00.004Z

Back to Botany!

The picture below is of the inflorescence from a plant of Common Barberry (Berberis vulgaris) growing on Park Downs, Banstead. It is a species I had never seen before and is regarded as an archaeophyte in Britain, a long-established alien. It is not particulary common.

Although the individual flowers are small (~1cm diameter) they are rather attractive with the large club-shaped stigma.
On Park Downs it has an interesting/amusing history. A number of plants had been known to be present over many years and it is said that when voluntary conservation work started about 20 years ago they were given the task of clearing scrub to give these plants a bit more space because they were being shaded out. The only trouble was that they didn't appear to be able to separate this species from more common chalk scrub plants and when they finished work they had cleared the lot, Barberry and all. This story is apparently true and it was assumed that the plant was lost from the site.

However last year Roger Hawkins found this individual growing in deep shade that, despite being about 2m tall and having plenty of flower, would be diffcult to find unless you knew where it was. Nice to know at least one survives!

Success!!

2011-03-02T19:26:00.006Z

I am happy to be able to say that the massive campaign I ran on this blog (NOT!!!!) has been successful! (click here)

Seriously, it is great news that the SESWC have decided not to attempt to cross the Heath. It is rather appropriate that the BBC used a Skylark to illustrate their coverage . A walk over the Heath the other day showed a considerable number of this iconic species taking up territories in areas that would have been reduced to a building site for a year and permanently scarred therefter.

A victory for common sense and a defeat for short-term thinking!

I have learnt a lot over the past few months including some new things about the Heath and its inhabitants. Perhaps I will now have a bit of time to blog about them!

Pipeline - the Heath's tale

2010-12-08T20:31:00.001Z

At present the preferred route (preferred by the water company and local council) for the pipeline would have greatest effect on Banstead Heath, in fact, among other things, cutting it in two for the duration of the work and effectively for a long time after.

Banstead Heath is one of four areas of common land that make up Banstead Commons (the others are Banstead and Park Downs and Burgh Heath), it has an area of approximately 300 hectares (750 acres). The Heath lies on the North Downs between Tadworth roundabout and Walton Heath (also common land but with associated golf course) and just reaches the M25.

The area is heavily used by the local populace for walking with and without dogs and horse riding but surprisingly not many naturalists appear to use it as their local patch, which is a pity. There is a dearth of records for both flora and fauna and the Heath has some real surprises for those bothered to look.

The Heath has existed as common land within its current boundaries (give or take a little) for over five hundred years. At the end of the nineteenth century there was some gravel extraction (which was one of the contributing factors that led to the formation of the Banstead Commons Conservators) but otherwise, until WWII, traditional commoners' practices, cutting wood, grazing etc, meant that it was an open area probably mainly of heather and probably gorse. During WWII a large part was used as a military encampment and some was ploughed. After that the whole area began to scrub up and birch colonisation started. It was not until about twenty years ago that significant management began, aimed at improving the Heath both as an amenity and as wildlife habitat. Since then some dramatic improvements have occurred.

The Heath cannot be described as a place of silence, the proximity of the M25 ensures that, but even in the height of summer, it is possible to find a peaceful spot away from the madding crowd just to enjoy your surroundings.

A number of roads fragment the Heath but apart from a gas pipeline on the south-eastern edge, the main body of the Heath (over 200 hectares) has been untouched by construction, cables and pipes.

JUST the place then to carve up with a pipeline, no thought to history, no thought to users, no thought to wildlife and most important, no guarantee that the pipeline will not cause significant long-term damage to the Heath.

Why? For the water company it will save them a lot of money (mainly because they put no value on the Heath), for the council it seems that they wish to avoid the short-term disruption on the A217 and the associated reaction from the public. Interestingly in the only published test of public opinion (Surrey Mirror online poll in July, not scientific) that I know of, a considerable majority supported the route along the A217 rather than crossing the Heath.

Pipeline across the Heaths - what value do we put on the countryside?

2010-12-02T19:08:00.003Z

Following on from the potential damage to Box Hill, another tale of local problems regarding habitat destruction is potentially more serious

Sutton and East Surrey Water Company (SESWC) have declared their intention to install a water main from a reservoir at Mogador, Kingswood to Burgh Heath. They have a fairly simple choice between routing it across 4km of common land mostly on Banstead Heath and Burgh Heath or going down the A217, either in the road or alongside. If they cross the commons they will clear a 20m (yes, ~60ft) swathe along the length of the route to enable the work to take place. Both the water company and the local Council prefer the route across the commons, I wonder why!!

Both Banstead Heath and Burgh Heath are well-used amenity areas for local people but more importantly (as far as I am concerned) are important habitats for both flora and fauna. Construction of the pipeline would cause massive short-term damage and the long-term effects could change the areas irrevocably.

At this point I must declare my interest, as I have been a Banstead Commons Conservator (BCC, I am currently Chairman) for the past 15 years. The BCC manage this area of Commons although most is owned by the local authority and the SESWC require BCC permission to carry out this work. So far this has not been granted!

The whole situation is quite complex, the nature of the Heath, the role of the Conservators, etc. and I aim to address and explain individual aspects over the next few weeks.

I would stress that this blog will be my personal views that may or may not be shared by other conservators.

Let's trash Box Hill

2010-11-07T22:07:00.001Z

When I started this blog almost two years ago I saw it, like most blogs as a self-indulgence to publish anything that took my fancy plant-wise especially with local relevance. My posts have been more infrequent than I intended and having been busy with other things this summer, I haven't posted anything since June.

In that period a number of things have happened highlighting the lack of real value put on countryside that have caused me varying degrees of anger, and so for the short-term at least the nature of this blog will change. It might not be campaigning but it will feel like it.

I am going to start with Box Hill.

I have known the area around Box Hill for many years both as an area of outstanding beauty and as a bit of a botanical paradise. However, as the result of a passing conversation a while back I suddenly had a brilliant idea, why not turn it into a race-track. There is an area of Box Hill, known by the locals as the Zig Zag, a steep-sided valley in which a road enters at the bottom and then through a couple of hairpin bends traverses one side of the valley to eventually reach the summit of the Hill. Motor cyclists (and others) love racing up it and the valley sides make a perfect ampitheatre for spectators. Couple this with the route either to the south or north of Box Hill and we could set up a nice lap for a competitive race. The fact that the National Trust own it and I believe it is an SSSI should not really prove a barrier. Great idea!

For those of you who know the area you might think I have gone mad, however this is exactly what is being proposed for 2012 although not for motorcyclists but cyclists. It is proposed that the Olympic road races for both men and women would incorporate this area in a lap that would involve the riders ascending the zigzag perhaps up to seven times.

Obviously there has been much public consultation and discussion about this!! Well apparently no, at least not in the natural history world, it seems to have been kept quiet, with no posters advertising it even though the National Trust are apparently proud that the route has been chose for the race. Funny that the cycling press has been carrying the story for a long while. One wonders why it has not been broadcast more widely in the local area, or perhaps it has and I have missed it.

I love cycle road racing, the Zig-Zag would be a great place to watch a race and I know it will only be for a few days but is it really acceptable that such a special place as Box Hill is subject to the intense trampling there is likely to be (have you watched the Tour de France) even for the Olympics? I don't think so but of course the Olympics mean money!.

The provisional schedule for all Olympic events is due to be submitted to the International Olympic Committee this November and the final schedule will be approved early in 2011. There is still time to make changes, write to the National Trust!

Overall, I can't help thinking that it illustrates the real problem that is associated with habitat protection in general, in that if money or other high profile influences come to bear, then for most it is nothing more than lip service!! Sad or not?

A lone brave cyclist sets out to take on the terror of Britains' answer to Mt Ventoux

Next : Pipeline across the countryside!!! Watch this space

Pollinators, or rather the lack of.

2010-06-23T18:14:00.001+01:00

Earlier this week, the funding of new research into the disappearance of pollinating species was announced.

Great, but isn't it amazing that almost fifty years since the publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring we still don't seem to have scientific evidence that the wholesale use of pesticides/herbicides/fungicides/rodenticides/anyothercide are in some way deleterious to all forms of wildlife especially when mixed together!

Yellow is the colour

2010-06-22T10:37:00.013+01:00

Locally, south-facing chalk downland has turned yellow over the past couple of weeks. It seems to be a great year for Bird's-foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), Horseshoe Vetch (Hippocrepis comosa), Common Rockrose (Helianthemum nummularium) and in some places Kidney Vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria), these coupled with the odd buttercup all have similarly coloured flowers and are in full bloom at the moment. Good news indeed for many invertebrates especially the different species of blue butterflies that variously utilize these as food plants.

An evening stroll over the North Downs scarp at Denbies, nr Dorking last week proved extremely yellow but also provided a variation of one of these that transformed a beautiful plant into a real stunner.
Common Rockrose normally has bright yellow flowers (above) with papery petals that benefit from close inspection. However, on this occasion I was lucky enough to find a much lighter variant (left), that seem to enhance the ephemeral appearance of the normal flower, almost poppy-like. Although this variant is not uncommon, on this occasion I only found one amongst literally thousands of the normal form, I have seen it before and it is well worth looking out for.

Absolute magic.

Southern Marsh Orchid

2010-06-15T21:51:00.007+01:00

This time last year we made a visit to the Sussex coast to see a veritable confusion of Dactylorhiza species and hybrids.

This year we decided to simplify matters and so ventured to a site closer to home but still in Sussex where Southern Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa, right) grows alone. In a fairly small, boggy area surrounding a feeder stream to a pond there was a good show of several hundred plants.

It is an imposing species that unfortunately all too readily hybridises with other members of the genus (especially Common and Heath Spotted) usually resulting in enormous variation in flower pattern and even difficulty in finding any "typical" examples of the parent species. The remarkable thing about the plants at this site was that uniformity of flower colour and lip pattern was very similar as the picture below of flowers from three plants covering the width of the population. Made identification rather easy, not often the case.

Incidentally and sadly, not so long ago there was a large population of this species on the southern side of Reigate Heath. Unfortunately now extinct because of the habitat drying out, apparently caused by water abstraction!!

Conservation grazing???

2010-05-19T22:17:00.002+01:00

Chalk grassland is very much an artificial habitat around here, requiring management to prevent natural scrub progression occurring rapidly. The usual way to deal with this is by winter grazing with sheep or goats and on Banstead Downs there are a number of areas that have been grazed for over twenty years on a three/four yearly rotation. This year a small flock of Herdwicks did the sterling work through all the snow and cold weather (below). Their grazing opens up the sward and helps to maintain a low soil fertility level, in addition they do tend to nibble at some of the scrub. The important thing is they are removed in the early spring so that they do not eat the hopefully burgeoning flora!

A similar pattern of management on Park Downs to the south of Banstead has been interrupted following a dog attack a few years ago that resulted in the death of a number of goats. One of the the dogs is still around and forage harvesting has been used to keep the herbage down. Not ideal.

Recently however, nature has decided to help in the form of the local rabbits. Park Downs has had a rabbit population that for the past ten years at least has varied over a fairly regular two to three year cycle. Once they reach a certain density, myxamatosis appears and the numbers drop down, they then recover and the cycle repeats itself. The past two years have seen a break in that cycle, numbers have increased continuously and have reached very high levels with no sign of myxomatosis yet.

Rabbits tend to have "favourite" feeding areas and rather than graze the whole site lightly they create small areas of close-cropped lawns and although the botanical diversity increase in those lawns, they have only a small impact on the site overall. This cold winter and increase in numbers has however seen a dramatic increase in the area grazed and the effects are beginning to be seen.

On the good side rabbit grazing tends to favour the growth of less coarse grasses offering an advantage to other chalk grassland species that cannot normally competee hence species diversity increases, It also alters the physical characteristics of existing species, for example Cowslip, the picture below shows this plant growing fairly typically in a non-grazed area (left) and a grazed area (right), the plants are about 1/3 of the size, quite a difference. It doesn't help that in the latter example something nibbles the flowers just as they open, neverthless the species is increasing even in those areas.

On the bad side, in the short term rabbits do not restrict themselves to grass and many plants fail to flower especially orchids that have there flowering stems renmoved as they elongate. In the long term, the effects can be more serious in that in well-grazed areas rabbits tend to dig for roots etc (I assume) and this can lead to rapid degradation of the sward. This is just beginning to happen in some areas on Parks Downs.

It is a great shame that the rabbits can't be removed for the summer, proper conservation grazing!

Rubbish Blog

2010-02-18T15:56:00.006Z

Please note the title is not meant as a comment on the quality of this so-called blog but I am well aware that if the cap fits etc.. I will continue:

Back in early 2009 when the frost and snow was thick about, I was on the early morning dog walk when I spotted, sticking out of the snow, what was unmistakebly the foliage of an orchid. On closer inspection this view was confirmed with a second plant closeby. Although I had no idea of their identity, I set about extricating the two plants from the surrounding vegetation and took them home.

Once cleaned and potted up it was clear one of the plants was not going to survive but the second appeared to be fairly healthy and about a month later it began to grow and eventually, in early June it began to flower with rather attractive flowers. Once it did flower I realised I hadn't got a clue to its identity but eventually I have narrowed it down to a Dendrobium, I think! It carried on flowering, eventually with a total of three spikes until just before Christmas when the final flower, pictured below, shrivelled. Hopefully with a bit of TLC over the winter the process will be repeated next year.

This story in itself is only a mildly (if that) interesting anecdote of no real botanical significance because quite obviously these plants were not native, both were still in their damaged pots and I am probably guilty of theft.
Those orchids are however symbolic of one particular antisocial habit that really gets my goat, namely that of casual garden rubbish disposal. We are lucky in Banstead, the town is almost encircled by countryside, whether it be downland, woodland or farmland, public or private. Unfortunately a small proportion of the population regard this as an opportunity not to walk and appreciate the flora and fauna but to rid themselves of assorted garden rubbish. Some literally throw it over the garden fence when they are lucky (!!) enough to live in a situation where this is possible, others take more trouble to transport it to the site. Some will even barrow it many yards into woods to hide it from obvious view.

The strange thing is that if you talk to any of the guilty individuals they usually can see nothing wrong in what they do and find it difficult to believe that technically it is fly-tipping, something of course they would never do.

So, if any are`reading this, unlikely I know, here are a few points to consider:
1) This habit results in unsightly festering piles of rotting plant material that disfigure the countryside. Worse since you rarely bother to sort out pots, labels and other sundry materials you are contributing to the ever-increasing amount of non-biodegradable rubbish in our countryside.
2) By throwing out plant waste you encourage those even more selfish individuals who see a pile of rubbish anywhere and assume that it is the local tip. They start off with other garden refuse such as wooden fencing (chain-link fencing in one local example) and then eventually any rubbish they have.
3) Garden refuse frequently contains viable plants that can be the source of invasive alien species that can cause long-term damage to the habitat.
4) Compost heaps are excellent ways of disposing of garden waste producing a useful endproduct. Failing that, for a small charge the Council will take it away and compost it for you.
5) and finally, what you do is classified as fly-tipping, anti-social and illegal.

Please stop doing it.

NOT botany

2010-01-20T09:51:00.003Z

On this day two years ago my two and a half year-old granddaughter Maddie died suddenly from viral sepsis believed to result from a Flu infection. Her death created a great gap in our family life that can never be filled.

Her Mum and Dad have been wonderful and this year they are running in the London Marathon to raise money for the Child Bereavement Charity who helped them through their darkest days. They hope to raise £2500 each, no mean task, neither have a history of running and so they are working very hard to get ready for the big day.

This post is a blatant request for anyone who feels so inclined to support their effort by donating towards their target (Tom and Sam). It really is a good cause.

Before Maddie died I would have been mortified by posting this request (and I apologise to anyone who does think it inappropriate) but now anything goes!

Please help if you can.

White Spindle

2009-12-03T20:11:00.005Z

The November rain and winds has reduced the local downland to a grey/brown mire. The last leaves have been ripped from the trees and the only remaining colour is from the fruit left on scrub species. Most of them are the black of Buckthorn, Privet and Dogwood but standing out amongst those are the scarlet/crimson fruit of Spindle (Euonymus europaea,left ). It seems to have been a very good year for Spindle on the Downs, some plants are still laden with fruit with the orange seeds protruding from the scarlet flesh.

For some reason on Banstead Downs there are a good proportion of plants with fruit ranging in colour through to white, the latter being rather attractive (right). As far as I am concerned this is unusual in itself, I have never seen this anywhere else (other than gardens) not even on Park Downs close by. It has been suggested to me that it is quite likely that because Spindle used to be widely planted for its timber and perhaps in the dim and distant past someone rather liked a white variant that appeared and planted this rather than the more normal one, hence enriching the population. I am not too sure of this explanation, I suspect that planting for timber on common land (as Banstead Downs is) stopped a very long time ago but who knows.

I have always rather simply assumed that colour variants usually result from a simple genetic mutation, in this case meaning the plant is unable to synthesize the relevant pigments to give the fruit its normal colour. However this year I have noticed a couple of plants with predominantly white berries but here and there just a single normal-coloured fruit (see poor picture taken in gloom, left) I assume this suggests it is a bit more complicated than that.

Ghost Orchid back but bad timing for some!

2009-10-22T19:33:00.006+01:00

It is good to hear on the grapevine that Ghost Orchid (Epipogium aphyllum) has been seen in flower in the UK this year. It will apparently be officially announced at the BSBI in November but its location will be kept secret, I hope for a long time.

For those who don't know, Ghost Orchid, as its latin name suggests has no leaves and also no chlorophyll. It is what used to be called a saprophyte, a plant living on decaying matter. We now know that such plants usually have a complex symbiotic/parasitic relationship with associated fungi and surrounding trees.

It has only ever been known from three or four sites in the UK and can survive for many years underground without flowering. It hadn't been seen officially for 23 years and in fact it had been declared extinct last year even though it had disappeared for similar periods earlier in the twentieth century.I was lucky enough to see the plant flowering in the Chilterns back in the nineteen seventies and eighties, (hence the poor scan from a slide) when it flowered almost annually for quite a few years. It seems the habitat has got considerably drier over the past twenty years and it was assumed that it had gone forever. However apparently not, great news!

With regards to the timing part of the title it is unfortunate (only mildly) that the announcement coincided almost exactly with the launch by Plantlife of a programme entitled:
The Ghost Orchid Declaration: Saving the UK's wild flowers today.
which they lead on the fact that Ghost Orchid had been declared extinct!! Unfortunate.

I have not read it fully yet but it seems to be an important document highlighting the problems of conserving habitat for plant and fungi species. Regardless of Ghost Orchid, many plant species are seriously threatened so lets wish them all the best.

Fly orchid information required please!

2009-10-15T17:18:00.009+01:00

At this time of year I start looking back on the year and re-examining photos taken, none of which are ever as good as I thought they were at the time! One that caught my eye however was taken not by myself but by a friend and it is a picture of Fly Orchid (O.insectifera).

The normal Fly Orchid (above) is a magical little plant, the flower quite different from almost all other species in the Ophrys genus with petals that mean it truly lives up to its common name. We are lucky enough to have a small colony of about thirty plants of this species in Banstead although just a few miles south there are sites where in a good year you can see thousands of plants.

However the photo in question, taken at a Hampshire site, shows a plant with a flower (below) with a very obvious yellow edge to the lip, even more attractive than normal. Over the years I have seen this species at many sites in both the UK and mainland Europe and althought the lip size can vary considerably it always has been brown. Both Lang (Britain's Orchids) and the Harraps (Orchids of Britain and Ireland) mention the occurrence of this type of plant as occasional or rare respectively. So I wonder just how rare is it.I should point out that there are two similar species found in S.France and Spain O.subinsectifera and O aymoninii (below) that have lips with yellow edges but this is not they!

So, how rare is this variant in Britain, can anyone out there help, i.e. have you seen a Fly Orchid with yellow-edged flowers??

Farming a few weeks ago!

2009-10-11T21:22:00.006+01:00

Work and decorating means this has turned into a bimonthly blog! Not the original idea but hey ho it happens and for this posting it means Steve Gale has beaten me to it!!!

The past few weeks has seen a lot of agricultural activity on the fields south of Banstead (Canons Farm) referred to here earlier in the year. Back then after spraying, most of the fields were sown with Flax which is always promising because to my uninformed mind that means less herbicide use and hence the possibility of some arable weeds. Sure enough there were plenty but unfortunately nothing remotely unusual or unexpected and apart from Field Pansy nothing of any real beauty. The Flax duly grew but to me seemed rather less vigorous than when planted in previous years (perhaps less fertizer was used!) and was a white-flowered variety that was less attactive than the blue and never seemed to put on a decent display.

In one of the fields however some strange goings on. In a number of separate patches the crop seemed to be overcome by almost monocultures of a number of weed species. A large patch of Charlock (see below, taken in June) here and a large patch of fumitory there, and several others too, rather peculiar. It almost looked as if they had been planted, the other fields did not show this.

Yes, this is a crop of flax!

Normal service resumed however in September when the whole crop was sprayed with a herbicide to "ripen" it prior to havesting and so wiping out all the weeds as well, a desert again! The crop was duly harvested and in my simple mind I thought Flax would have a double return, seeds for oil and the stems for fibre, sure enough the "straw" was baled but a couple of days later, the bales were burnt (not by vandals but intentionally) so there I assume there is no demand for fibre. Must buy some more linen shirts!!

Now the extra interest in this crop has been mentioned by Steve, the last time it was grown on these fields two years we had massive winter flocks of finches. However there are two big differences this year compared to then: firstly two years ago the crop was harvested very late when most of it had been beaten down with rain and large amounts of seed spilled; and secondly as far as I recall the fields were left untouched through the winter before being sown with the next crop (a spring cereal), this year it has already been cultivated and I suspect will be sown very soon. As Steve says a lot of birds are already on the fields but whether the bonanza will be as big and last as long only time will tell.

Cut-leaved Germander and Ground Pine

2009-08-23T18:06:00.010+01:00

Back in January Steve Gale kindly welcomed my new blog with a comment about a number of plants we are lucky to have growing in this area, including Ground Pine (Ajuga chamaepitys, left) and Cut-leaved Germander (Teucrium botrys, below) both of which are nationally rare. Well, yes and no!

He was I am sure, referring to a small piece of chalk grassland just to the south of Banstead Woods called Fame's Rough, a cracking place for both wild flowers and butterflies. It has an interesting history which essentially boils down to the fact that in WWII the field was ploughed to grow crops (unsuccesfully) and for a few years after Cut-leaved Germander (among others) was common having only been previously recorded as an infrequent arable weed in the area. After a few years it disappeared only to reappear en masse when the land owner was persuaded to ploughed a strip of the field.

For the next 30-40 years a new strip was ploughed every five or six years and the cycle repeated, often with both the above and many other ruderals (colonisers of disturbed ground) growing in huge numbers. Obviously the seed of these species is quite long-lived but they have little capacity to compete with other plants.

For the past 10-15 years the ploughing has stopped and the field started to scrub over, a couple of years ago the scrub was cut back and a test was started to see how much soil disturbance was required for the germination of these species to occur. A number of areas were dug/scarified to varying degrees but not ploughed! The results were fairly disappointing with a few plants of both species appearing but no great numbers.

Last year a larger area was lightly rotovated and a on recent visit I failed to find any plants of either species, so it appears it is ploughing or nothing. Hopefully this will be tried soon.

The two plants are interesting as well as rare, Cut-leaved Germander occurs at probably fewer than ten sites in the country and Ground Pine at only 32 sites since 1970. They are fairly closely related members of the Labiatae or Lamiaceae (or whatever), the mint family. but are instantly recognisable as they are members of the only two genera of that family in this country that have very little or no upper lip as the picture of Teucrium botrys below shows. You can read more about Ground Pine in an excellent dossier produced by Plantlife.

The interest on Fame's Rough does not end with these two species, it is a joy to behold from spring through summer with many chalk specialist plants including orchids and is always well worth a visit.

Finally, to get back to Steve's comment, yes, I am sure the plants are still there, if only as seed but; no, you'll be lucky to find them this year. I should point out the photos were taken a couple of years ago.

A knotty find.

2009-08-18T22:02:00.009+01:00

Strolling around Park Downs the other evening I noticed a small white flower (above), on the path, just another Purging Flax I thought, but no it was larger than that (probably why I noticed it) although still less than 1cm across. On closer inspection it turned out to be the flower of Sagina nodosa, Knotted Pearlwort. This is a very delicate plant with terminal flowers on stems that bear very small linear leaves clasping the stem that give the "knotted" feel when you run it through your fingers, you might just be able to see it in the picture above. Try getting an in-focus picture of the stem.

If you look in any British flora it will tell you something along the lines (to quote Clapham, Tutin and Warburg, I live in the past) "Frequent in damp sandy and peaty places throughout the British Isles". So what is it doing on dry chalk downland?

In fact in Surrey it seems it does things differently. In Lousley's Flora of Surrey (1976) it is described as very rare, only recorded at three sites in the recent past, two of which were on chalk including Banstead Downs up until about ten years ago. As far as I know it was first recorded on Park Downs in the early 1980s about 100 m from where I found it and had not been seen for about fifteen years. It was thought possibly to have been imported with gravel used to repair the path it grew on.

However I remembered that last year I had photographed a small white flower on another path on Park Downs and promptly forgot all about it. I dug it out and sure enough there it was (below) Knotted Pearlwort, so back to Park Downs and last night I found it again in the same place on a path some 100m from the other two sites. The fact that it is still present across quite a large area perhaps that even if it got here by man's hand it can survive quite happily. Certainly not an obligate calcifuge. Of course strictly a non-native in this context!!!!!!!

Later this week I shall inspect Banstead Downs to see if I can find it there. Watch this space.

Late re-entry - Small Balsam

2009-08-06T19:31:00.006+01:00

For a number of non-botanical reasons, I haven't posted for a long time so I have plenty in reserve now I am resuming!!

One surprise this summer came at the weekend when walking in Banstead Woods. In many places there is a good cover of Impatiens parviflora, Small Balsam along path edges. Interestingly it also seems to be one of the earliest plants to be able re-colonise ground after Rhododendrons have been cleared, even so it still takes a couple of years before it can germinate.

It is not a very showy plant only having a small flower, however, close-up (above) it is rather attractive. The base of the petals (and sepals) appear white with red markings with the rest being yellow. The surprise came when I stumbled upon a couple of plants with flowers that completely lacked any yellow (below) being white , the red markings more pronounced! White variants of many species are quite common but I have never seen it in this species, indeed I have rarely seen white variants of any normally yellow-flowered species. Off the top of my head I can only think of Primrose and even that was as a garden variant.

Has anyone else seen a white Balsam?

Dactylorhizal heaven

2009-06-18T21:31:00.030+01:00

Last week we paid a visit to coastal Sussex to a min-flood-plain site that is home to a number of Dactylorhiza species that grow in profusion. For many reasons, I like the Dactylorhiza genus,the various species are usually stately and attractive plants and in Europe you are never far from one species or another, they can be found from the Mediterranean to the Arctic circle and the genus is represented in just about every habitat type. I do however often have problems with identification of many of the species mostly centred around the facts that firstly, Dactylorhiza is an essentially purple-flowered genus and superficially (the level of most of my plant identification), many of the flowers are similar and secondly, in many cases hybridization occurs between species often producing fertile offspring intermediate between the various parents.

At this site, there are three or four species depending on your choice of nomenclature, Common Spotted Orchid D.fuchsii, Southern Marsh Orchid D.praetermissa, and two Early Marsh Orchids D.incarnata (D.incarnata incarnata) and D.pulchella (D.incarnata pulchella).

As far as I am concerned, this number of Dactylorhiza species growing in the same place and such a small area (the entire site is no more than 400m x 100m) is quite unusual so perhaps given the circumstances it is not surprising that all sorts of strange things have happened (a bit like humans).

D.incarnata presents no problem of identification because the flowers are not purple but a wonderful flesh pink. The top picture shows a few flowers with typical markings and although the outer lip is not bent back something that is supposed to be fairly characteristic!

Having nailed this species, the direct comparison of flowers enables the identification of the other Early Marsh with some certainty, D.pulchella and splendid plants they were too up to 60cm high with intensely coloured flowers and dense spikes, real crackers (above right)!

Interestingly, at least I thought so, the two Early Marsh species tended to grow in separate patches as though their requirements were slightly different.

Moving on there were scattered plants of easily identifiable Common Spotteds D.fuchsii, typical colouring and the clearly indented lobe to the lip. But then there were many more plants that at a distance screamed Common Spot but when you looked closely were similar to the one on the left with an atypical lip shape but still with spotted leaves.

In addition, there were occasional plants that appeared to be pretty standard Southern Marsh Orchid (D.pratermissa) such as the one on the right and non-spotted leaves but then there were those with exactly the same flowers but spotted leaves and so it went on. After a while it became clear we were in the middle of a hybrid swarm, not as dangerous as a bee swarm unless you keep on insisting on identifying the individual plants. After a while you begin to doubt whether any of your identifications are correct, so take everything here with a pinch of salt!

Apparently this population has been the subject of a number of academic studies that I have not read (!) and it illustrates the problem of trying to identify individual species within genera that contain species are clearly not yet stabilized or whatever the correct term is.

In this case the simplest thing to do is sit back and enjoy the plants and the spectacle. A sheer joy!!

Old friends revisited

2009-06-10T18:33:00.008+01:00

Box Hill, north of Dorking, Surrey, is a large area of mixed chalk turf, scrub and woodland renowned for its varied flora. It was where I was first shown how to identify wild flowers and felt privileged to be shown the rarities of the area. Since then (over 40 years ago!!!) I have visited the area regularly and at this time of year a walk almost anywhere is rather like going out to meet old friends.

We went for a stroll there the other night supposedly looking for Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera) at a spot where there are generally plenty but very few this year, we only found a single plant. Now it could be a bit early for the Bee Orchid but I suspect not as at the same site we did find Musk Orchid (Herminium monorchis, right) just starting to flower, this must be two weeks earlier than usual, growing at the site I first saw it.

Across the road and there were a small number of plants of Deadly Nightshade (Atropa belladonna, left), within a few feet of where I first saw this species all those years ago.

We then moved on, not far, to a wooded area by the River Mole, to look for Turk's Cap Lily Lilium martagon at a site where, according to Lousley's Flora of Surrey, it has been known for little more than 50 years. Only one flower open as yet (below) and roughly the same number of plants as were present when I first saw them.

Finally we moved on to another site for the Lily about a mile away where it has been recorded for almost two hundred years , here also it was still in bud but the colony is huge with hundreds of plants spread over quite a large area. It will be a picture within a week or so when the flowers open, especially since there are a good number of white-flowered variants to add a bit of spice.

It is nice to meet old friends.

White Orchid!

2009-06-04T08:05:00.011+01:00

Our local Common Spotted Orchids (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) are just coming into flower at the moment and at one site, although only a small number of plants are present (1-200), the flowers are remarkably variable both in colour and in patterning. This year there is an addition, a single pure white spike has appeared. It does seem to be completely white with only the pollinia showing any colour at all, so I suppose it could qualify as var.albiflora, but if I did that I would have to come up with about 50 names for all the other colour variants present so I will just stick with "a white one".

This is the first time I have ever seen a white form of Common Spotted in forty years, despite it being supposedly common, so I was quite chuffed to find it locally especially as it is so attractive to look at.

Lemon Iris

2009-06-03T19:39:00.007+01:00

At the moment, the local ponds are providing a fine display of Yellow Flag(Iris pseudacorus, left). This is a spectacular plant only spoiled by its very short flowering period. The golden yellow flowers brighten up even the dullest June day.

Even better, in this area we are lucky enough to be able to find the much paler lemon-yellow version (below) that goes under various names including the descriptive I.pseudacorus v.pallidiflava or less obvious v. bastardii. If anything this is even more beautiful than the type species appearing almost ethereal in comparison.

It seems to be a bit of a N.E.Surrey specialty occurring in a number of ponds around here although in Lousley's flora of Surrey it is only reported from a single site in Epsom. So far I have failed to find little details of it growing elsewhere.

The origin of this plant around here is something of a mystery. There is a pale variety that has been in cultivation since being introduced from the USA early in the 19th century but equally it was reported in the wild (not in Surrey) in the early 18th century by no less an authority than John Ray. It has also been recorded in Middlesex in the more recent past.

I would be interested to know if anyone out there has seen this plant elsewhere.

Bluebells in Banstead

2009-05-22T20:34:00.006+01:00

A very belated post but the Banstead Botany Blog could not let spring go by without mention of the Bluebells in Banstead Woods. Bluebell woods are quintessentially British, the plant itself (Endymion non-scriptus) is native to a small part of maritime Europe but only in the British Isles does it reach such levels of monoculture that is typical of our springtime landscape. In the east it is very much a woodland plant but in the far west it often grows in more open situations.

Banstead Woods is well known for its annual display and this year was particularly good. However this may not have continued to be so because until recently the display was under threat. The reason was Rhododendron ponticum that up until about 15 years ago was taking over the understorey of the Woods with about a quarter of the total area covered. However a concerted programme of annual “Rhododendron Bashing” organised by Reigate and Banstead Council (who own the Woods) and a local conservation group (the DCMP) has had a dramatic effect. Not only is the woodland floor now more open and hence views extend further but slowly the Bluebells are recolonising the cleared areas to increase the expanse of blue. The display and scent early on a spring morning is rather special.

A few years back someone suggested to me that the Bluebell display in this country owes its existence to the extinction of Wild Boar (that are partial to bluebells) in medieval times and that their reintroduction would lead to the disappearance of Bluebell woods. I don’t know if that is true, luckily as far as I am aware there are no wild boar around here!

Being me I had to include a close up of a flower, not just blue but also white! It seems to me that white variants suffer a distinct competitive disadvantage, they do not seem to clump up very often remaining as single spikes and certainly do not appear in the same place each year.

A bit of horticulture

2009-04-22T13:20:00.008+01:00

When I started this blog I did not intend to write about garden plants but hey, a morning in the garden in the beautiful sunshine made me change my mind. Two quite different plants did it for quite different reasons.

The first is I think Symphytum grandiflorum (above and right), I am not absolutely sure, and is valuable for a number of reasons. It grows to about 25cm and is great ground cover for a sunny position even suppressing the dreaded Ground Elder (Aegopodium podagraria) which in my experience makes it unique. Equally of course that means it is invasive but in a very civilized way and can easily be pulled up in large patches as it is very shallow-rooted. It's greatest value is however for insects, it appears to produce plenty of nectar and/or pollen and is always covered with six-legged beasts especially bees. Even better, it starts flowering in February and thus provides an important food source for early emerging insect species and it is still going strong and will probably not finish flowering for another few weeks. Some might dismiss it as just another Comfrey but although it is not an elegant plant I think it is a valuable addition to the garden.

The second plant is for unashamedly decorative interest, Ribes speciosum, the Fuchsia-flowered Currant or Californian Currant. The first plant I ever saw of this was trained espalier-style, 5m up a south-facing wall to show off its flowers that hang down below the branches to full effect and it was quite spectacular. My own plant is more or less free-standing and is about 3m high. The flowers open virtually together and the contrast between the bright red flowers and the vibrant green of the newly-emerged leaves is something to behold. Individually, the flowers are not large (about 3cm inclusing the exserted stamens) but en masse they have quite an impact. Apparently, it is only just hardy but has survived in my north-facing garden for years. It is difficult (for me impossible) to root from cuttings unlike most Ribes species and that may explain why I have not seen it too often either in gardens or for sale. The final merit of this plant is that in the summer it produces small red- bristled gooseberries, that until this moment I have never thought of tasting, I shall try this year. I think if I was restricted to having a single shrub in the garden it would be this.

Two posts in 2 days!!!! I might get the hang of this blog thing eventually

Early Spider Orchid

2009-04-21T21:52:00.009+01:00

Not been out much locally recently but a trip (or perhaps as so many people do it, a pilgrimage!) to Dorset in the past few days gave the opportunity for a walk along the Purbeck cliffs to see Early Spider Orchid (Ophrys sphegodes) and thus start to catch up with the Greeks. This species is at the northern limit of its European distribution and is confined to the warm chalk and limestone of southern England in Kent, Sussex and Dorset. Most populations are found very close to the sea although one of the largest colonies at Woodingdean in Sussex is about two miles inland. Generally it is a plant of very short turf having very little capacity to compete with strong-growing grasses.

In Dorset it is typically a plant of the cliff edge and quarries that abound in the area as the rather cheesy picture on the left illustrates. This year we did find large numbers growing in rough pasture a bit farther back (10metres) from the cliffs that had been winter-grazed. Plants are often quite small the second picture shows an extreme example, the daisy flower is of Bellis perennis about 7cm high.

In recent years O.sphegodes has shown an amazing propensity to colonise suitable fresh habitat at Samphire Hoe, near Dover (see Kingsdowner blog and picture to the left). The Hoe was created from spoil from the Channel Tunnel diggings and in the intervening 12 years since it was completed the number of O.sphegodes plants have increased from less than 100 to over 10,000 making it one of the largest colonies in the country. In Dorset I suspect that if there was more suitably timed grazing there would be many more plants.

One thing is certain however that this species is one of the gems of the British flora especially flowering so early in the year.

Going green

2009-04-13T19:13:00.006+01:00

My favourite view in Banstead is from the top of Park Downs looking south over Banstead Woods, with a valley in between you get a wonderful view of the trees clothing the opposite side of the valley.

The photo behind the title of this blog is of part of that view, taken in late autumn. This afternoon, the sun was shining across the trees and I couldn't resist. The green shoots of spring at least on the trees are just beginning to unfurl and the colours (greens!!) are quite spectacular.

The picture above is roughly the same view as the title, looking towards the north-western end of the woods. This was once home to a large country house pulled down early in the 20th century and the woodland surrounding the house was planted with a large number of non-native species especially conifers and these provide the darker greens.

The picture below was taken looking toward the north-eastern end of the Woods where there are fewer planted species. In the foreground birch and Hawthorn on Park Downs are just beginning to show leaf. The three bright green trees to the left centre of the picture are I think Sycamore in flower (I couldn't be bothered to check). The other main species in the wood, Oak and Beech are yet to show green.

I will return to this view and the Woods through the spring.

Asplenium anyone?

2009-04-09T21:33:00.000+01:00

Chalk downland in the south-east of England is probably not the first place that you would go looking for ferns in the UK especially if you were searching for the smaller species of the Asplenium genus. However there is one place on Banstead Downs where a veritable cornucopia (its all relative) of such plants grow although it must be said they do not lend themselves to close inspection. Banstead Downs is split by the Epsom Downs railway line and halfway across the Downs is a brick bridge known as the Sheep Bridge. Walking across it and you would only notice the odd piece of graffiti and pass on. Look over the parapet and you might be surprised to see that the mortar of the brickwork supports a considerable level of plant life ranging in size from birch seedlings through Silene species to a number of small ferns including at least five species of Asplenium.

In fern terms, walls in the south-east might be expected to be home to Wall Rue (A.ruta-maria, top left) which is very common and Black Spleenwort (A.nigrum) that in my experience seems to have a special affinity for railway bridges but in addition to these, both Maidenhair Spleenwort (A.trichomanes, middle) and Rustyback (A.ceterach or Ceterach officinarum, bottom left) are present.

Now I realise that those of you who live in the west and north of the British Isles are thinking along the lines; "so what, the latter two occur on every wall and rock crevice available here". Well, here in the SE the situation is slightly different, A.trichomanes is much less common than in the more rain-endowed areas of the country and as for A.ceterach , a quick look at the NBN Gateway distibution map shows it has a marked southerly/westerly distibution in the British Isles and is absent from many 10km tetrads in the SE and even in those where it does occur it is by no means common.

One interesting point is that there are many more plants on the hotter south-facing outer wall of the bridge than on the north-facing side. Virtually nothing grow on the inside walls.

That's four Asplenium species, the fifth doesn't quite fit the "small" description, there are a few plants of Hart's-tongue fern (A.scolopendrium or Phyllitis scolopendrium). In addition there are a few other ferns that are out of reach that I have never identified.

Worth having a look but remember don't lean over the parapet too far!!!

Violets are Blue?????

2009-03-30T21:56:00.009+01:00

Like Daffodils, see previous entry, Violets (Viola species) presage spring but unlike Daffodils I cannot get enough of them. Around Banstead it has been a good year for the various species but special mention must go to Park Downs where there is a spectacular display of Hairy Violet (V.hirta) this year.

It is there every year but the numbers and effect vary depending on the level of rabbit grazing. This year is a great year because of the large number of rabbits that have managed to reduce part of the Downs to a sward that a bowling green groundsman would be proud of (although not flat if you know what I mean!). The plants remain firmly tucked into the other vegetation until it seems, the very last minute and then they throw up their flower stems, the rabbits do not seem to relish the flowers at all and so the overall effect from a distance is of a blue haze across the side of the south-facing slope, the picture at the bottom does not do them justice.

Normally Hairy Violet tends to have flowers that are closer to blue than purple (?violet?) of other species, a fact immediately observable in the field but not so easy to see from photos because getting typical colours of these shades is heavily dependent of the ambient light. Unlike Sweet Violet (V.odorata) Hairy Violet is rarely found in white although paler blue versions are freely available.

Devil daffodils

2009-03-24T21:48:00.023Z

I must confess that Daffodils make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up for very different reasons.

In Britain they are evocative of Spring, when they come into full flower it usually coincides with those wonderful first sunny but cold days of early spring such as we have had for the past few days in Surrey. Unfortunately there are no native daffodils (Narcissus pseudo-narcissus) that I know of in this area and so locally the experience has to be gained from those rather more gaudy cultivars and therein lies the rub.

I like some Daffodils (or more generally Narcissus species) in their right place, to me that means either in their natural habitat in which case we are talking about species which are predominantly southern European, or in gardens where cultivars are more commonly grown than species.

Unfortunately, we seem to suffer (in my opinion) from a surfeit of Daffodils elsewhere in places they do not belong!! Firstly, the mass planting on roadside verges, roundabouts or any other convenient grassy area mostly sponsored by local authorities. Rather than use delicate Narcissus species including the native species, the vast majority of plantings involve obnoxious cultivars that have as much subtlety as a brick wall. Why???

Ridiculous - discarded Daffodils on Park Downs, Banstead

Secondly and more importantly, Daffodils present visible evidence of the laziness and anti-social behaviour of "fly tippers" who regard plants as disposable and throw them out with gay abandon, usually apparently from cars. The roads across the downland in Banstead have many clumps of various Narcissi that on the whole only occur within about 5 metres of the carriageway, i.e. throwing distance. AND, it is not just Daffodils, other rubbish includes forms of Crocus, flowering Hyacinth and other sundry bulbous species.

Sublime - Narcissus serotinus growing in southern Spain. Chosen perversely to represent the genus because it is an autumn-flowering species!!

Now some people respond to my rants by suggesting that they brighten up the countryside as if the countryside is there purely for their entertainment and amusement. I grant you that apart from offending my eye around here they do little damage to habitat, at least so far. To me however it is what they represent in the form of the total lack of respect that people have for the countryside that is so galling.

Finally however the other night the television news carried a snippet about some poor guy in Gloucestershire who spends his time digging up alien Daffodils because of fears that they may pollinate populations of the native species, I can't help feeling he is fighting a losing battle.

From conversations with many over the years, I realise that I am in a minority of one so I hope I haven't offended anyone with these views!!!

New links

2009-03-13T22:12:00.008Z

You may have noticed I have added a few new links recently that have botanical content.

Kingsdowner presents an excellent commentary of all types of wildlife and habitat in Kent and has some great photography too. A constant reminder of the reasons to keep on going back to Kent.

Of particular interest to me are the two Greek ones covering orchids and other botanical interest. They are reminders that spring starts early in the Mediterranean and that I would rather be out there walking in the sun than here writing blogs! They also illustrate the spectacular richness of the Greek flora, for example, Crete, an island only about 160 miles long and forty miles wide has more native plant species than the British Isles and the region around Mt Olympus in the north of the mainland has even more. If only all those summer tourists knew what they were missing! Photograph of Cyclamen cretica for no other reason than I like it!

They also set me thinking that since I found them by a very roundabout way and I do not read or speak a word of Greek (although I know all the letters!!) there may be other foreign language (especially European) botanical blogs out there. If I find any I will probably have to treat them likes comics, look at the pictures and not read the words but if they are anything like the two Greek examples already found they will be well worth it.

Last but certainly not least, I have just added a new blog, Plants of Skye, Raasay and the Small Isles, admittedly it covers an area a long way from south-east England and so I am unlikely to get there very often but it is the genuine article, a botany blog written by a botanist.

Defoliation begins!

2009-03-13T20:04:00.004Z

Haven't had much to write about recently but a walk with the dog today changed that!

South of Banstead is mostly open space with chalk downland (Chipstead Downs), ancient mixed woodland (Banstead Woods) and a large area of arable farmland stretching to Kingswood. My stroll today covered a little bit of each; in the woods the Bluebell leaves (Endymion non-scriptus) are coming on apace; on the downs the violets (Viola species) are just beginning to flower and rabbits permitting, there will be a spectacular display of Cowslips (Primula veris) in a few weeks time. All was looking great.

Then towards the end of my walk as I came out onto a footpath along the side of a field, there it was - a very large tractor with two even larger booms to either side spraying the field right up to the very edge. Last year the field carried a cereal crop and herbicide spraying was so successful that just before harvest the only weeds in the crop were a few distorted Burdock and sundry small patches of a few other stunted species, highly efficient farming! Over the winter the spilled wheat seeds have sprouted and I assume the spraying today was of herbicide to kill all plants prior to ploughing or direct drilling for a non-cereal crop.

Ten years ago the area carried a good population of breeding "farmland" birds including Yellowhammers, Linnets etc, even Reed Buntings. Now, today there are few although the past two winters have seen good sized flocks of winter finches especially Chaffinches and Bramblings.

Modern agriculture has created mini-deserts devoid of wildflowers and their associated insect fauna hence the birds are lost. In this area the cereal is alternated with cash crops such as beans or Flax and there the crop is even sprayed before harvest so killing all those plant species that survived that season because of the lack of selective herbicide use.

I realise farms are businesses but I can't help feeling we have gone too far. I know there are plenty of farms out there that seek to enhance wildlife habitat but there are far too many who just ignore it. Hopefully things might change before it is too late but don't hold your breath.

Home extension

2009-03-02T20:36:00.004Z

The title is not an excuse for not posting for a while (hadn't got anything to say!) but more a description of the local badger activity over the past week or so.

About five years ago, badgers established a new sett close to houses in Banstead, it was a modest three-entrance abode set amongst scrub that involved digging into the chalk and the associated earthworks were quite something. For a couple of years nothing changed and then an extra entrance was provided. Evidence of their everyday activities was obvious with many tracks strewn with bedding material leading to the sett. Now and again when I walked the dog in the morning I would be lucky enough to get a fleeting glance of one of the occupants.

During the recent snow there was not much activity and they didn't start changing bedding for almost a week after it had cleared, presumably when the dead grass and moss that they use had dried out. Then last week they got the builders in, so far two new entrances have been created and two more have been started. Amazingly one of the new ones (see photo) is right in the middle of a path used regularly by dog walkers but they (the badgers) have not let that deter them they are still putting the finishing touches to it and walkers will have to detour. Presumably the family group is growing and they need extra space, quite a lot judging by the chalk they are shifting.

Welcome Hellebore

2009-02-15T12:03:00.009Z

A walk around the Downs south of Banstead this morning showed what twelve inches of snow does to the vegetation. Although most of the trees and scrub had sprung back after losing their load of snow, the grass and other herbaceous plants have a sorry, flattened, grey-brown appearance. The bright green shoots of recovery are not yet showing and the local rabbits seem to be having a hard time, as you walk past they carrying on browsing when normally they disappear the minute you appear.

This almost total greyness was only interrupted by the welcome presence of Stinking Hellebore (Helleborus foetidus). This plant never fails to please at this time of year with its bright green buds and flowers standing out like a beacon amongst the gloom. There is a small colony here and the plants all show the flattening effect of the recent snow and damage to the foliage. The flowers are not quite open yet but when they do they show a rim of red to the petals (the picture on the left was taken a few years ago). The flowers produce a considerable amount of nectar and must prove a valuable source of food for the early emerging bees and other insects.

This species normally starts to flower at this time or even earlier and is fairly common along the North Downs and elsewhere in Britain on chalk and limestone. It is one of two Helleborus species native to Britain, the other being Green Hellebore (H.viridis) that usually flowers a month or so later. Green Hellebore is much less common on the Downs, the nearest colony to here I know of is near Dorking and where it does occur it is usually much less conspicuous. Although a less showy plant, it can form large colonies such as shown in the lower photo of plants growing on the banks of the River Wye near Symond's Yat.

Absent parasite

2009-02-09T20:42:00.007Z

The countryside surrounding Banstead provides a fair range of habitats with one of the commonest being woodland/copses containing a high proportion of Hazel (Corylus avellana)trees often showing evidence of ancient coppicing. Indeed my own and neighbours gardens in the middle of Banstead contain large old coppiced Hazels with associated flora including Ramsons (Allium ursinum) and and Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria).

Now whenever I come across Hazel coppice especially in the spring I look forward to the possibility of seeing Toothwort (Lathraea squamaria) a parasitic species most commonly on Hazel although it has been known to attach itself to Ulmus species if it can find any! Being an obligate parasite it contains no chlorophyll and the flower spikes appear straight out of the ground with the flowers varying in colour from white through to deep purple. It is a rather attractive plant that often suffers from weather damage because of its early appearance from March onwards. I have seen it growing in many places in the UK, usually on limestone and locally have seen it on Epsom Downs and Headley Heath (top picture). So far however I have failed to find it in or around Banstead despite the abundance of its host. I shall keep looking.

A couple of years ago we visited a well known colony of this plant in the Purbecks, Dorset. We were lucky enough to find plenty of plants in unusually pristine condition and this enabled us to appreciate their true beauty and to get some half decent photos (bottom two). Who knows, one day Banstead!

Interestingly a friend of mine managed to get this species to grow on Hazel in his garden by sowing seed directly onto a damaged Hazel root. I think this is more commonly done succesfully with the other (introduced) species to be found occasionally in this country, L.clandestina. This species is native to SW Europe and is parasitic on Salix and Populus species.

Banstead Downs' own Early Purple Orchids

2009-02-03T12:28:00.010Z

With the snow lying thick and not so even outside, I have been going through a few pictures and came across some of Early Purple Orchid (Orchis mascula). I find this species intriguing. When I first was interested in wild flowers I knew it only from the damp woods of the Weald in Surrey, Sussex and Kent growing on clay (see picture at bottom of plants growing near Ockley, Surrey). Here it grows quite tall with relatively spindly spikes of flowers and leaves with variable degrees of spotting but rarely very intense. In places it forms carpets that in numbers come close to competing with the Bluebells growing at the same sites.

In later years, I discovered the species growing out in the open on more northern and western limestone at places like Hutton Roof Crags or the Purbecks. At these sites the species takes on a very different appearance, altogether more robust and striking with dense flower spikes seemingly more intensely coloured flowers and leaf spotting. On casual acquaintance they could be a totally different species.

In the back of my mind I had assigned all sorts of physical reasons for this difference in habit suggesting they may be mutually exclusive . I now realise that this is an artificial distinction and virtually anywhere you can see a wide range of "compactness". It still remained however that I had never seen O.mascula growing out in the open on the Downs or any other chalk site in the South East

Therefore I was astonished just a few years ago when someone showed me a colony of this species growing on Banstead Downs, astonished if only for the fact that I had been walking past them for years and not noticed them. There are about one hundred plants growing in a small area alongside one of the fairways on the golf course, on the edge of and just into light scrub and my excuse is that they are surpringly easy to miss.

In appearance they are more robust than the woodland plants, not surprisingly considering the very dry habitat and they are notable for the wide variability in flower colour, pattern and shape.

I assume the colony has been there for a long time but I have had real difficulty finding anyone who can provide definitive information. Whether it is a relic of a much larger population I do not know. If there is anyone out there with more knowledge about them, please let me know.

St Olaf's Candlesticks

2009-01-28T10:34:00.013Z

Living in the south east all my life and not really being a plant twitcher willing to travel hundreds of miles to see a particular species has meant that certain species that grow only at the other extremes (especially northerly) of Britain have achieved an almost mythical and inaccessible status for me. One of the most extreme of these has been Moneses uniflora, so gloriously commonly known as St Olaf's Candlesticks or more mundanely One-flowered Wintergreen.

In Britain this species is confined to a dozen or so sites in the pine woods of northern Scotland, not an area I visit very often and never at the right time of year to see the plant in flower. It appears to be in decline due to loss of habitat and is another species covered by Plantlife's Back from the Brink programme. For many years when I have occasionally come across pictures of this plant I have drooled over the unlikely appearance of it's flower.

This year we spent a spring holiday in Les Grande Causses region of southern France walking and plant-hunting and on the first day wandered into a pine wood that in places (amongst many other goodies) was carpeted with small "candlestick"-like buds shown in the picture above. At first sight I had no idea what they were but a few more metres and all became apparent because there in their full glory were hundreds of Moneses in full flower. Two small green leaves hardly emerging from the pine needles and associated litter with a flower stem about 5cm high and a flower only about 2cm across. And what a flower, I find it absolutely spell-bindingly (!) beautiful living up fully to its mythical status. The holiday was already fulfilled just for that moment when I realised what we had found. Its a shame that such a moment couldn't have happened in Scotland but better in France than never.

In writing this I realise that other members of the same family (Pyrolaceae) native to Britain have also avoided my gaze. Of the five native species (belonging to three genera, Moneses, Pyrola and Orthilia) I only remember seeing one in this country, Common Wintergreen, Pyrola minor. That was growing on a roadside in Buckinghamshire at a site more famous for Ghost Orchid (Epipogium aphyllum) but that is another story.

Slugs and snails

2009-01-22T17:32:00.008Z

There was a little snippet in the paper the other day about the optimistic expectations of commercial vegetable growers this year. They are hoping that the temperatures during the recent cold snap were low enough (to penetrate to a sufficient soil depth) and had lasted long enough to cause significant damage to overwintering populations of slugs and snails that they felt had built up to virtually plague proportions in recent years.

This made me think of observations I have made over recent years monitoring the vegetation on the local downs. Two species of orchid, Man Orchid (Orchis anthropophorum) and Greater Butterfly Orchid (Platanthera chlorantha), have been doing really well albeit from a low base. They can be counted early in the year because they start into growth around the end of January before grasses get going and the populations have been increasing nicely. Until two years ago this increase was also reflected in the number of flower spikes for each species but in 2007 there was a large drop in numbers of spikes and in 2008 there were hardly any mature spikes of either species in May/June.

In both cases this appeared to be due to slug and snail predation during damp spells in April/early May, immature stems collapsing after being half eaten away longitudinally, every gardener know the symptoms. So like the vegetable growers, with the cold spell and possibly a dryish spring perhaps we can look forward to a decent display of orchids this year.

I must admit until these observations, it had never really occurred to me the effect these gastropods have in the wild and on Chipstead Downs it is potentially even worse because we have Roman Snails (Helix pomatia)!! Anyone else any thoughts?

Lonesome Pine

2009-01-16T10:56:00.009Z

Juniper (Juniperus communis) is one of the three conifers native to the British Isles and there was a time in the not so recent past, or so we are told, when it formed a significant component of chalk scrub along the North Downs. Indeed in Clapham, Tutin and Warburg's Flora published in the fifties, Juniper is described as "often dominant in scrub on chalk and limestone". However, a Plantlife report published in 2004 suggested that on the whole of the North Downs it was in terminal decline with only 100 plants left. Now, the only place near here where I have seen good numbers of this species is Hackhurst Downs above Gomshall although I have not been there for a few years.

This demise is not just local, nationwide the same report was suggesting a 50% or greater loss over the past thirty years or so. The reasons for this decline appear as with so many others, complex and difficult to define, certainly many populations do not appear to be regenerating from seed possibly as a result of climate change.

The "good" news is that if you want to see one there are still a few plants around Banstead. On Banstead Downs there are a grand total of six quite large plants scattered across the golf course side of the Downs, mostly in fairly tall scrub. They all appear fairly healthy and still appear to be growing well. On Park Downs the situation is rather sad, there is just a single, albeit large, plant slap in the middle of the site, see photo taken in the murk today. It is an elegant plant about 15 feet high with slightly drooping foliage.Certainly the situation on Park Downs appears terminal, Juniper is dioecious, i.e. has separate male and female plants and hence it takes two to produce seed!! Even on Banstead Downs although there are both male and female plants there is little suitable habitat for seedlings to flourish, not that mature fruit have been observed there regularly.

Luckily the final demise of the plant on Park Downs may be far off, Junipers live over 100 years and so the graceful plant on Park Downs may continue to give pleasure for quite a few years. Perhaps we should christen it George after the last Pinta Island Tortoise in the Galapagos.

Gentianella species

2009-01-14T10:33:00.008Z

Most of my biological interest at the moment is in fighting off various viruses that seem to be interested in me!! So I am struggling to work up the energy to do anything and spend most of my time reading the paper.

I have to thanks Steve Gale (again!!!) for his welcome and link and for pre-empting a number of my entries. So in the absence of much botanical activity at this time of year I thought I would deal with one of those he mentioned.

Banstead Downs is well known in botanical circles for Early Gentian, Gentianella anglica (left), a number of small colonies of which occur there. G.anglica is an annual/biennial, endemic to England and is one of five species of the genus that grows in Britain. It is a plant of chalk and limestone and is considered endangered largely from loss of habitat. It is one of the species that is managed under the Plantlife “Back from the brink” programme and the population in Banstead has been monitored for many years and although the numbers vary from year to year overall it seems to be doing quite well.

On Banstead Downs it grows in very short chalk turf (less than 5cm) and rarely reaches more than 5cm, in contrast to the other very similar species Felwort, G.amarella (right), that also grows on the Downs and other chalkland sites nearby, that can reach 20cm. The most obvious difference between the two however is that G.anglica flowers from April to June and G.amarella from July to September. Interestingly, a few years back a DNA study was published that suggested G.anglica is merely a form of G.amarella "that has been created and maintained as a consequence of former grassland management practices", i.e. they were the same species. I've not seen any more on this but knowing the two plants that does seem a bit strange.

Something else about these plants is that their flowers open mostly when it is sunny, which for G.anglica means that it can be incredibly difficult to find on a cloudy day even when you know exactly where it grow.

G.amarella also grows on Park downs just south of Banstead and in areas where there is heavy rabbit grazing stands out like a sore thumb. Presumably the rabbits don't eat in because of its bitter taste (amarella comes from the latin for bitter).

To show the true beauty of the flowers of this genus I have to include this picture (left) of Chiltern Gentian G.germanica that does NOT grow in this area but as the common name suggests it is restricted to the Chilterns in this country. Altogether a much bigger plant up to 30cm with many flowers. The picture shows the fringing to the corolla that separates this genus from Gentiana proper.

Suppression and Vandals

2009-01-12T10:13:00.007Z

Thought I would start the blog proper with a rant. Start as I intend to continue!

One of the reasons there are so many birding rather than plant blogs is, I suspect, related to the relative mobility of the subjects of interest. For most of the year, birds are mobile and exchanging information on their whereabouts offers little threat to their survival and so everyone is happy to share information with others who know full well the bird may not be present in the same place the next day. The exception is at nesting season when because of a small group of peculiar people who collect eggs, genuine birders tend to suppress information especially with regard to rarer species.

With plants the situation is different, they tend to be rather sedentary organisms and once located do not tend to move too far!!!! As a result disseminating accurate information about their whereabouts means that others have a high chance of finding them. This is great for those with innocent intent to see and perhaps photograph the plants. Unfortunately there is another group of strange people who would rather translocate the plants to their own collection/garden (especially the rarer species with a high probability of dying within a season) and hence deprive everyone else of the more simple pleasures of viewing them.

When I first got interested in wildlife over 40 years ago it was often very difficult to persuade any genuine naturalist to disclose the whereabouts of a rare plant species especially orchids. I must admit that I thought that the intervening period had resulted in a more enlightened scenario with fewer people digging up plants and locations becoming more widely broadcast. Unfortunately it seems to still be a problem. Nationally, 2008 saw at least two instances of orchid removal hitting the national press. Plants of the very rare Military Orchid (Orchis militaris) were dug up in Bucks (luckily the perpetrator was caught in the act) and plants of Dark-Red Helleborine (Epipactis atropupurea) were removed from a site in Derbyshire, Still, probably isolated instances? No, certainly not from my experience this year!

In the Banstead area we have at least one small colony of Violet Helleborine (Epipactis purpurata, left), a rather statuesque and handsome species that is characterised as it ages by developing into a clump of flowering shoots but would be easily missed by the casual observer because its true beauty is only seen close up, see below. Its preferred habitat is fairly dense shaded woodland on alkaline soils (not a habitat available in most people’s gardens) and whilst not regarded as rare is a fairly local species confined to southern England. The colony consists of about thirty plants two of which have multiple stems, one (~12 stems) grows in the middle of a footpath and is regularly trodden down but the other (in the photo) was tucked up on a bank close to a large tree trunk. I say “was” because back in July this year the half-grown plant was dug up and removed! The resulting hole was carefully filled with leaf litter. I would just like to record my personal thanks to the selfish b*****d who did it, so depriving others of the pleasure of seeing this plant in its natural habitat. Pure vandalism!

If I believed that this was the action of someone who thought “Oh, there’s a pretty plant, I shall have it for my garden”, I could partially understand it, and a bit of re-education would probably prevent a recurrence. Unfortunately I suspect that the perpetrator knew exactly what they were digging up and wanted it for their “collection”, it is not a species readily available commercially. If that is the case may him/her and his/her collection rot!

As a result I will not be giving any detailed references to plant sites in Banstead that I know of, a shame because I enjoy sharing my experiences of wildlife.

This blog

2009-01-08T18:28:00.011Z

My entry to the blogosphere is largely inspired by the blog of Steve Gale who covers a geographical area I also wander in regularly. His blog covers mostly bird-related subjects although occasionally he mentions plants, my main interest. Whilst randomly following the links from his blog I was struck by the huge number of birding-related blogs and the paucity of UK plant-related blogs (I might be wrong, please let me know if I am!). So I have decided to increase the number of botanical blogs by one!

I should point out at the beginning I do not intend to totally restrict my posts to Banstead or botany but will have a considerable bias in those directions.

Thought I would start by giving a little background to Banstead. Banstead is a small town sitting on the North Downs in north Surrey fortunately surrounded by largely open space on three sides (N, S, and E) and even to the west housing is not too dense. In the next few entries I will go through specific areas but generally we have some chalk downland (mostly Banstead and Chipstead Downs that are SSSIs), arable farmland and mixed "ancient" woodland that provides a considerable diversity of habitat and resulting fauna and flora. In short it is quite a nice area to walk in and appreciate natural history.