Dorset Flora Group
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Dorset Flora Group AGM and Exhibition
AGM & Exhibition meeting
10th Dec 2011, 14.00 – 17.00
the Scout Hut, Bere Regis
This year the AGM will be on the 10th December so as to avoid the BSBI and Hampshire Flora
Group’s meetings. The Drax Hall was not available and we have booked the Scout Hut, Elder Road,
Bere Regis instead. I apologise for the late notice, but it has taken some time to finalise these
arrangements. We look forward to an enjoyable meeting and plenty of informal conversation.
As before, the AGM will be a small part of the proceedings, unless there are any fundamental
issues. If you have an item to discuss or wish to be elected onto the committee, please notify
the secretary as soon as possible and certainly by 25th November. Anyone wishing to stand for
election to the committee must have a proposer and seconder.
Most of the time will be taken up with the presentations and discussion around the exhibits.
Tea, coffee and cakes will be available throughout. The agenda below is a guide to the afternoon.
- 14.00 Exhibition opens
- 14.30 AGM
- 15.00 Presentations
- The arable plant project: an update from FWAG by Alison Appleby
- Living Record: the new way of recording plants on-line, Carolyn Steele, DERC
- Preparing a plate for an illustrated flora: Christina Hart-Davies
- 14.00 Exhibition closes
There will be tables and posters of members’ activities during the year and two quizzes for
you to try. If we are still talking at the end of the afternoon, the Royal Oak has proved a
convivial place to continue discussions.
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Events Programme 2012
Little Kneeling Eyebright
Euphrasia officinalis ssp anglica
Photo: Bryan Edwards
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Full details to be announced soon
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Wildflower Week 2012
Silene flos-cuculi
Bryan Edwards
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Wildflower Week 2012 will be from 9th to 17th June. More details will be published nearer the time.
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Projects For 2011
General recording
Spirodela polyrhiza
Bryan Edwards
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Towards the end of last year the BSBI published a recording strategy for 2010-20, available
from the website (
http://www.bsbi.org.uk/RecordingStrategy.pdf).
I am pleased to say that we have most of the items in the list of priorities, although a
little updating would not come amiss. The first aim is to update the hectad (10km grid square)
records by 2019 in readiness for publishing the third atlas of the British and Irish flora by
2024. Further in the document you will see that records should be collected at the tetrad scale
(2km grid square), or finer. To completely record the vice-county in a ten year period will
require good planning and mobilisation of all botanists in the county. We have a well recorded
county and I doubt there have been sufficient significant changes to make such an endeavour
worthwhile. The one area I feel insecure about in making that statement is N Dorset, simply
because I do not know the botany well enough. Most of my knowledge comes from the mid 1990s
when I conducted a phase 1 survey of the Blackmore Vale assisted by Dominic Price (now working
for Plantlife) and later, a more intensive survey of the area around Gillingham.
N. Dorset is not blessed with the range of habitats to be found to the south, there is not much
Access land and the footpath network is patchy. Consequently botanists rarely visit and few of
our members live there. Much of it is intensively managed farmland, although unlike the E of
Britain, many of the hedges and copses still survive. So there could be delights waiting to be
discovered and we should check it out. I have not yet worked out how best to do this, but broadly
I would like to collect records at the monad (1km grid square) level for common species and better
for the scarce species, aiming to do at least one of the four in each tetrad. If anyone living
"up't north", or intending to spend time there would like to be involved, please
contact me so that we can avoid duplication of effort.
As I've said before, my view is that our efforts are probably better directed at monitoring the
rarer or declining plants, where it makes sense to be able to detect changes as soon as possible
and increase our knowledge of their ecology and habitats. Please use of the rare plant recording
form when you find an interesting species. Or, if you do not want to use the form, at least keep
it as a check list and record the information listed.
Dorset Rare Plant Register search list
Two people, Ted Pratt and Peter Cramb, have visited a lot of sites at their respective ends of
the county, up-dating the information in the database. Thank you to all who have sent me records
and if you have not yet done so, it is never too late. As a result we have reduced the search list
by a substantial number of sites and I ought to trawl the database for more old records to update.
This I will do when I have validated the botanical records sent to DERC in 2010.
Other searches
I am still concerned about the Frog Orchid (Coeloglossum viride), which I failed to find at
the specified site in 2009 and populations may have declined. I would like to hear of any locations,
ideally with a full species list from the site even if you did not find it at a site where it had
previously been recorded. It might well occur on some of the sites we will be searching for the
Burnt-tip Orchid (Neotinea ustulata).
Threatened Plant Project (TPP)
The BSBI have published the species, but not yet sent me the sites we need to search in Dorset.
However, with one exception, I am hoping we can visit all the sites. Only eight of the ten species
have been recorded in Dorset and three of these are unlikely to still be present:
- Baldellia ranunculoides
- Cicendia filiformis
- Cuscuta epithymum
- Galium pumilum
- Juncus compressus
- Neotinea (Orchis) ustulata
- Silene conica
- Torilis arvensis
I will be preparing a strategy to cover all the sites that are worthwhile once I have the selected
sites from the BSBI. If anyone would especially like to survey for one of these species, please let
me know. Dodder (Cuscuta epithymum) is the species I think is so widespread that it is not worth
surveying every record. Nevertheless, I would like to hear of any sightings as you wander over the
heaths. Fill in a TPP form if you can, but if not please note the host plant in addition to the grid
reference, date etc. A GPS is almost essential for getting a grid reference to better than six figures
in the middle of a heath. An alternative is to carefully note where you are in relation to paths, scrub,
or any other landmark and then to locate your position on an aerial photo on the Dorset Explorer or
Where's‐the‐path websites and read off the grid reference.
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Juniper Days
The lost Breeze Hill Juniper – Refound!
the lost Breeze Hill Juniper
Photo: Jon Crewe
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The first edition of the Dorset Heath included an article about the Plantlife Lowland Juniper
project. Work on this has continued throughout 2010; Juniper is a slow growing plant and seed
does not germinate for a long time after sowing, so the success of the work to create new
colonies is still uncertain. However, there have been some early indications that the seed
collected for sowing in the scrapes created on sites across the South of England is viable.
Three pots in my garden have seedlings, and Julia Carey in Bucks has numerous small plants
which appeared from seed in 2010.
The previous article stated that Dorset had only one Juniper; this was not accurate, as
there are a few on private land with no access and a few more in open landscapes on
Cranborne Chase. However, numbers are barely into double figures, so there have been
several attempts to check on the sites of old records. In general these have been
unsuccessful, so a suggestion from Tim Wilkins that a small party should look for a 1985
record from Breeze Hill might have met with a poor response had lunch to follow not been
included.
The party consisted of past and present workers on the Juniper project; Robin Walls
lent botanical authority but was perhaps outranked by Lena Ward, who has studied England's
Juniper populations since the 1970s, and whose record card was the source of the information
that the plant existed on the site. Unfortunately the grid reference appeared to be wrong
‐ or correct for Somerset ‐ so we decided to head for Breeze Hill and search
likely sites. Leaving Tim's wife Cora and daughter Fern to cook lunch (Many thanks, Cora),
we set off.
The walk to the site was slightly complicated by steep, muddy conditions and by the
landowner choosing to wrap barbed wire around all but 2 feet of the top rail of one gate,
but at the cost of minor damage to trousers and dignity we reached the West facing chalk
slope. We spread out across the hill, the more agile members scrambling along the steep
face of the hill while Lena took the path closer to the base. There were no signs of
Juniper; the grassland appears quite rich, with numerous isolated hawthorns but no dense
scrub at higher levels. Robin and Rachael Arden searched a strip of scrubby woodland at
the base of the hill while Tim and I kept to higher levels. Eventually I descended towards
Lena, fairly sure that we had failed, only to find her pointing up hill near to where I
had been. We agreed that it looked like gorse but nevertheless I slogged back up the slope
and found to my delight that Lena's nose for a Juniper had not failed!
I would imagine that no single Juniper bush has ever had quite so much attention;
photographs, notes, GPS position records and general admiration. It is not every day that
you add around 10&percent; to a species numbers in the county with one discovery. The
position proved to be to the West of the area marked Breeze Hill on the OS map, which may
have been the cause of previous failures to locate the bush, but the view from higher on
the hill was blocked by a nearby hawthorn, so it is possible that searchers have just
walked by before. We returned to Tim's house feeling we had earned our lunch and a
celebratory glass of wine. A photo of the bush with its intrepid finder can be seen above.
Jon Crewe
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2010 Field Trips
2010 Field Trip reports
24th April 2010 Dorset Flora Group survey: Leader Peter Hatherley.
Queen's Copse and Prior's Copse, East Dorset.
Driving through Hinton Martell to the meeting point at the end of Queen's Copse Drive
gave a foretaste of the potential to be surveying some quite old countryside as there
were many fine veteran oaks in the hedgerows and indeed at the meeting point a
householder had quite wisely placed some logs to dissuade parking. Queen's Copse has
a number of entry-points but we used one in the southwest corner SU035061. Here the
lane to the north has a Holly boundary with a number of old coppice stools suggesting
that the area has been used in the past as a cattle pound. At the entrance to the wood
there is a large (2m diameter) coppice stool of Small-leaved Lime (Tilia cordata).
Bowen (2000) refers to a record from 1595 from Holt Forest. The wood is drained by
streams originating from Chalbury Common, which run eastwards to the Moors River. The
central ride separating Queen's Copse (Holt) from Prior Copse (Horton) forms the parish
boundary.
Queen's Copse and its adjoining neighbour Prior's Copse are managed by the Forestry
Commission and are mainly planted with Douglas Firs (Pseudotsuga menziesii).
Although there are many large blocks of this tree, the planting was undertaken with some
sympathy for native species and recent management has thinned the firs, whilst allowing
the native trees to flourish. It is under the native trees that the ground flora is at
its most interesting, especially along the woodland edge.
One of the target species for the day was Spurge Laurel – a shrub of old woods tolerant
of shade favouring calcareous clay soils (Bowen, 2000). This we found along the western
boundary of both Queen's Copse and Priors Copse with a small number of plants showing
distress. Rackham (2006) published a list of plants he considers to be ancient woodland
indicators. These woodlands contained twenty-two of these species including: Wood Melick
(Melica uniflora), Wood Anemone, Bluebell, Hairy Woodrush (Luzula pilosa),
Wood Spurge (Euphorbia amygdaloides), and although in all instances only quite
rarely Woodruff (Galium odoratum), Early Purple Orchid (Orchis mascula),
Climbing Corydalis (Ceratocapnos claviculata), Archangel (Lamiastrum galeobdolon)
and Barren Strawberry (Potentilla sterilis).
The margins contained plenty of native species with Small-leaved Lime coppice, which
in the north-east corner of Queen's Copse also had Mistletoe (Viscum album),
Field Maple (Acer campestre), Ash, Pedunculate Oak occasional Beech with an
understorey of Hawthorn, Hazel and Guilder Rose (Viburnum opulus) in wet places.
Holly is found frequently in the boundary. In the north east quarter of Prior's Copse
is an area of about 120 x 100m of Sweet Chestnut (Castanea sativa), whilst
immediately to the south in Queen's Copse is an area of Small-leaved Lime. The sweet
Chestnut coppice is still worked and has a rich Bluebell ground flora. We returned to
the start along the southern margin of Queen's Copse where a substantial wood-bank
can be seen.
Pale Dog Violet
Viola lactea
Bryan Edwards
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15th May, 2010 Leaders Robin Walls and E.A. Pratt.
Stoborough Heath for Pale Dog Violet Viola lactea
Pale Dog Violet is an herb of well drained, dry heathland habits generally found in the
heathlands of Hampshire, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall with a number of sites in west Wales
and Anglesey. This was one of our target species in the B.S.B.I. rare and scarce plant
survey in 2010. The plan being to take members to a site where the violet is found and
ask them to search other places where it has previously been recorded in Dorset. This was
not as easy as thought as not only was this species present, but Heath Dog-violet
(Viola canina), Common Dog Violet (V. riviniana) and the hybrids
V. lactea x riviniana and V. canina x lactea were also present. These were
all photographed with samples checked in the literature before members set off to search
other places.
Stoborough Heath is managed by the RSPB and on this higher dryer part, scrub management is
carried out to keep rides open and gorse and birch under control. The area was quite rich
botanically with some seventy species recorded.
In the afternoon session, we visited Higher Hyde Heath where a smaller number of the violets
were present, but a little scrub management should ensure larger populations in the future.
We also searched two adjacent sites, where we had grid references, with no luck and finally
visited Gallows Hill to search for an old record again with negative results.
26th June, 2010 Leader Robin Walls. Report Jon Crewe
Batcombe Down.
The group met at the car park near Cross and Hand, SY635055, in fine weather. 19 members and
friends attended and the day started with a short walk to the west-facing slope of Batcombe
Down, where the Musk Orchid (Herminium monorchis) was last seen in Dorset. There was
some doubt about the date of the last record but it appears not to have been seen here for
10 years despite several searches. We spread out downhill and walked NW, attempting to cover
the entire slope.
The turf is in reasonable condition although rather poached in the more accessible areas;
some orchid species were found, including Common Spotted (Dactylorhiza fuchsii), and
Pyramidal (Anacamptis pyramidalis) Orchids while close observation by Peter Cramb and
Robin Walls added both greater butterfly (Platanthera chlorantha) and bee
(Ophrys apifera) orchids to the list. Many typical downland plants were present, although
in the main in small numbers. Squinancywort (Asperula cynanchica), Small Scabious
(Scabiosa columbaria) and Common Rock-rose (Helianthemum nummularium) were among
the better finds. Unfortunately the Musk Orchid remained elusive. It is a tiny and unobtrusive
species and may still be present here; 2010 was a poor year for this plant even in hotspots
such as Noar Hill in Hampshire but the chances of refinding it in Dorset are now looking slim.
We ate lunch on the down before moving on to the second part of our excursion, a visit to
Hendover Coppice. This exceptional site was previously owned and managed by Bryan Collins
before he generously gave it to the Dorset Wildlife Trust. Bryan joined us for the morning;
although unable to stay for the visit to Hendover Coppice, his directions helped us to find
Herb Paris (Paris quadrifolia) and Wood Vetch (Vicia sylvatica). The highlight
of this part of the trip came when we eventually tracked down the small colony of Fly Orchid
(Ophrys insectifera). A few flowers were found in good condition, which gave the
photographers their opportunity. It is a matter of concern that the orchids here are declining,
with Bird’s Nest Orchid apparently lost from the site and all species much reduced in recent
years. The reasons for this are not known.
Robin Walls as leader and Bryan Collins for giving us the benefit of his specialist local
knowledge were thanked for their assistance with this meeting.
8 July 2010 Leader Ted Pratt.
Godlingston Heath
The annual survey of Bog Orchid was carried out over a period of four days, led by the Rev.
E.A. Pratt. The population of this species and its flowering period was determined during this
survey in which many Society members and National Trust volunteers took part. It is with
considerable regret that due to predation of this orchid on other sites by determined individuals,
the detailed report the Rev. Pratt prepared for the Flora Group will not be put in the public domain.
Campanula glomerata
Bryan Edwards
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17 July 2010 Leaders Dr Jonathan Cox and Sean Cooch (Natural England)
Lyscombe and Highdon S.S.S.I.
This area is located to the south of the Blackmoor Vale in the north-east corner of the parish
of Piddletrenthide. The valley is a south-facing horseshoe reaching a maximum height of 255m.
We parked at Lyscombe Farm making our way, first of all, to a beautiful restored chapel with
a simple wooden cross, made from drift wood. We then climbed the eastern slopes onto the chalk
grassland, grazed by Hebridian sheep. Hobby was seen overhead, whilst both Linnet and Yellowhammer
were present in the Gorse. The eastern slopes had over sixty chalk downland species in the
grassland where Tor-grass is rare. Highlights included Clustered Bellflower (Campanula glomerata),
Squinancywort (Asperula cynanchica), Common Rockrose (Helianthemum nummularium)
and a grass which I suspect is under recorded, Crested Hair-grass (Koeleria macrantha).
We next moved onto a small area of wood pasture with many anthills. Although the field has many
open areas, Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) and Gorse
(Ulex europaeus) were scattered across the field. The soil here was of a more acidic
nature with Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) and Sheep’s Sorrel (Rumex acetosa).
At the foot of the slope is a small copse of Ash and Hazel with a ground flora of Dog’s
Mercury in drier areas and Ramsons in the wetter areas. A woodland ride had Red Bartsia
(Odontites verna) and there was a good area of the tall woodland Hairy-brome Grass
(Bromus ramosa).
As part of the agreement with Natural England, the farm has been working to create more chalk
grassland on the valley floor. Whilst crossing this large field we were pleased to see a Badger
run across some 200m away. The area was not as rich as the hill slopes but the herbs are returning
with Rock-rose, Agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria), Common Knapweed (Centaurea nigra),
Wild Carrot (Daucus carrota) and Red Bartsia. We had a further surprise with an arable crop
in very chalky ground where plants such as Fool’s Parsley (Aethusa cynapium), Small Toadflax
(Chaenorhinum minus), Round-leaved Fluellen, (Kickxia spuria), Field Pansy
(Viola arvensis), and Dwarf Spurge (Euphorbia exigua) were present along the margins.
Returning to the farm along the western ridge brought no surprises in the calcareous grassland.
14 August 2010 Leader and report Rev. E.A. Pratt.
Wareham Common
Five members braved the weather forecast and joined the leader for two hours to look at species of
a rich ditch and a riverside. The ditch afforded opportunity to compare Branched and Unbranched
Bur-reeds (Sparganium erectum and S. emersum), and Greater Duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza),
Common and Least Duckweeds (Lemna minor and L. minuta). Ivy-leaved Duckweed
(L. triscula) was seen in the river later. Rigid Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demursum)
was found beneath the surface, and Nodding Bur-marigold (Bidens cernua), Reed Sweet-grass
(Glyceria maxima) and Water Dock (Rumex hydrolapathum) above it. Colourful species
lining the banks included Water Forget-me-not (Myosotis scorpoides), Meadowsweet
(Filipendula ulmaria), Water Mint (Mentha aquatica), Ragged Robin
(Silene [formerly Lychnis] flos-cuculi) and Common Marsh-bedstraw
(Galium palustre) among them.
Crossing the Common to the River Piddle, Janet O’Connor found Fen Bedstraw (Galium uliginosum)
growing in the grass – a first for the tetrad.
Part of the river had recently been dredged, but there was still plenty of River Water-dropwort
(Oenanthe fluviatilis) and the true Bulrush (Schoenoplectus lacustris) in it. The
leader’s grapnel fished out first some Pedunculate Water-starwort
(Callitriche brutia Ssp. brutia), a new site for this Dorset Rare species, some
Nuttall’s Waterweed (Elodea nuttallii), curly but with narrower leaf apices than
Canadian Waterweed (E. canadensis), and later some Perfoliate Pondweed
(Potamogeton polygonifolius).
It only rained a little early in the meeting – the forecast had proved pessimistic!
Drosera intermedia
Bryan Edwards
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28 August 2010 Leader Robin Walls
Holt Heath NNR
The objective for this meeting was principally to search for some old records of Marsh Gentian
(Gentiana pneumonanthe). This plant has declined considerably in the UK due to neglect of
the damp acid grasslands. There are small populations in Yorkshire and Norfolk, with a few
localities in the west of Britain, but the Dorset and Hampshire heathlands are its stronghold.
The group has searched for this species in early September on Cranborne Common with some success
in recent years and it was with high hopes that we could relocate the species at Holt Heath,
especially as grazing has been reintroduced. Robin Walls and Peter Hatherley did some preliminary
searching without any luck in the two weeks before the visit. It was with great pleasure that quite
early in the day one flowering spike was located, followed quickly by a second spike some distance away.
It was at this second spike that we realised our difficulties. For whatever reason, the plant was only
just coming into flower and the non-flowering shoots are very difficult to locate amongst the mass of
vegetation. We moved further west to search two other locations. The northerly one I searched was in
waist high Purple Moor-grass and none was located, but the party who searched the southern location
found around 40 flowering spikes. In addition to this plant we located some of the heath’s other
specialities including Brown-beaked Sedge (Rhynchospora fusca), White-beaked Sedge
(R. alba) good areas of Marsh Clubmoss (Lycopodiella inundata) and Meadow Thistle
(Cirsium dissectum); Oblong-leaved Sundew (Drosera intermedia) was widespread in
shallow mires. Common Lizard, Sand Lizard and Smooth Snake added to the heath’s interesting species
range. Grayling butterfly was present in good numbers, together with Small Heath.
We finally made a small detour to see Dorset’s only site for Copse Bindweed (Fallopia dumetorum)
on a roadside verge.
- Bowen, H.J.M. (2000) The Flora of Dorset Pisces Publications, Newbury.
- Green, G. (2004) Birds of Dorset Christopher Helm, London.
- Rachkam, O. (2006) Woodlands Collins New Naturalist, London.
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DFG contacts
For further information please contact:
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Dorset Environmental Records Centre