Violets are Blue?????

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?