BSBINews - BSBI Archive - Botanical Society of the British Isles

44 Field meeting reports: 2008 - Lindisfarne area (v.c.68)
amount of water in the burn made the descent,
shall we say, entertaining!
Bob Ellis and Kevin Walker set off in
pursuit of Crepis mollis (Northern Hawk'sbeard),
both an RPR and TPP plant. Although
they ranged far and wide, visiting the area
around Langleeford, and the Upper Coquet
Valley (which made them rather late for
dinner) only one of the known sites came up
trumps. This was an excellent meadow near
Langleeford, although they reported that the
Coquet Valley site looked promising and
might be revisited. Another interesting record
was for Myosotis secunda (Creeping Forgetme-not),
a TPP species not previously known
from the Langleeford area.
Michael and Paddy Braithwaite opted for a
lowland day, visiting Dunstanburgh and
Newham Fen. The latter produced excellent
site records for Carex lasiocarpa (Slender
Sedge), Potamogeton coloratus, Salix
myrsinifolia (Dark-leaved Willow) and
Molinia caerulea ssp. arundinacea (Purple
Moor-grass). Indeed, Michael brought back a
specimen of the latter for us to argue about
over dinner. Dunstanburgh turned out not to
be so interesting; however it turned up two
further site records for Torilis nodosa, at
different locations from those recorded by
John Richards the day before. They also
provided a record which, although in itself not
remarkable, shows just how much work
remains to be done in North Northumberland:
Galium palustre ssp. elongatum (Common
Marsh-bedstraw). Astoundingly there are no
previous records of this plant from Newham
Fen!
We had ordered dinner at the Crown and
Anchor, but we had to phone to say we would
all be late. However, we got there eventually,
tired and hungry, although those who had
studied the coastal areas had a sunny, easy,
day. We sank back in the warm comfort of a
little alcohol, good food and plenty of botanical
discussions.
Saturday, 16 th August
This was our first day of serious Holy Island
botany, and a hot one too. We grew in
numbers as locals joined us over the two days
of the weekend. We began by working the
slacks in the dune system at the west end of the
Island, known as The Snook. This was where
we seriously cursed the Acaena that stuck to
socks, rucksacks, anything that went near the
ground. One person eventually abandoned a
pair of socks that were too stuck up to be
worth restoring. Each slack had been
allocated a number and marked on an aerial
photograph and armed with these, several
parties set off into the dunes. The first lesson
learned was that it would have been a good
idea to mark grid lines on the photograph to
aid identification of the numbered slacks!
Notwithstanding this a number of slacks were
monitored and a large number of sites for RPR
species accumulated. Equisetum variegatum
proved much more abundant than on Ross
Links, with 10 sites, and l3 sites for Euphrasia
tetraquetra, including some magnificent
specimens, showing just what a distinctive
plant it can be in the right environment.
However the winner for the most records went
to Gentianella amarella ssp. septentrionalis,
with no less than 34 sites!
After the heat of the dunes, it was a relief in
the afternoon to hit the slight breeze on the
north coast of the island. Two groups found
the same patch of Pulicaria dysenterica
(Common Fleabane), probably the only one on
the island and one of only a handful in the
Vice-County. Lots more sites of Gentianella
amarella ssp. septentrionalis and several new
sites for Blysmus compressus (Flat-sedge)
were found, which, over the week, proved to
be much commoner on the Island than expected.
But the finds of the afternoon were
undoubtedly Polygonum oxyspermum ssp. raii
(Ray's Knotgrass), which had not been found
on the north coast before: the fifth site for the
v.c.; and a very interesting hybrid Equisetum,
which provoked much thought.
At 7pm we were back at the Crown and
Anchor, but not as tired or hungry as the day
before. So we mostly chose more subtle dishes
this time, rather than huge hearty ones.
Sunday, 17th August
This was our last day in v.c.68. We began by
examining the south shore, to see whether we