SUSTAINABILITY

AROUND THE REGIONS
19
Wiltshire
Bulford
and a few outliers were also found on a
track edge 1.5km from the main cluster.
It seems probable that there are other
track edges in the general area where
the plant remains undiscovered.
Broad-leaved cudweed on CCDA 2014 © John Moon
The Salisbury Plain Training Area (SPTA)
contains a vast diversity of mostly
chalk-loving plant species and
members of the conservation groups
are frequently finding new sites for
scarce plants in its 377km 2 . However it
was a surprise when members of the
Bulford conservation group found a
large and previously unnoticed
population of broad-leaved cudweed
Filago pyramidata, since this Red Data
Book species had not previously been
recorded in Wiltshire and currently
The criss-cross tracks of CCDA on
SPTA (E) aerial photo © Crown
exists in less than ten other UK sites, all
to the east of Wiltshire.
This small annual, generally between
3cm and 15cm high, was found on the
Cross Country Driving Area (CCDA),
north-west of Tidworth, which is about
1km across and criss-crossed by dozens
of chalky tracks which are interspersed
by islands of chalk grassland. The plant is
characterised by near-globular clusters
of 10 to 20 small yellowish flowers and
leaves which broaden towards their
apex. The track-edge habitat occupied
by the broad-leaved cudweed is
occasionally, but not continuously,
disturbed by the passing vehicles and
this provides good conditions for seed
dispersal and germination. Some
desiccated Filago specimens were found
at the end of the long and hot summer
of 2013, but confirmation of their
identity had to wait until July 2014 when
the next generation were in flower.
Initially only a few tens of plants were
seen but further survey work located
around 700 plants spread over 0.5km 2
The plant has quite a short life-cycle,
usually germinating in late spring and
finishing flowering in August, and this
may be one reason it was previously
overlooked. Another reason is that the
CCDA is frequently occupied by
fast-travelling vehicles creating clouds
of dust – so not a prospect to entice
botanists away from the surrounding
areas of pristine chalk grassland. This is
another example of the disturbance
caused by military activity being good
for annual plants; other interesting
annuals found on tracks in and around
the CCDA include lesser centuary
Centaurium pulchellum, dwarf mouseear
Cerastium pumilum, Basil thyme
Clinopodium acinos and knotted
pearlwort Sagina nodosa.
Some people have suggested that the
plant may have reached the CCDA via
seed trapped in the tracks of tanks
returning from Germany (like hairy
rocket Erucastrum gallicum, which has
now spread over most of SPTA) but
this seems unlikely as broad-leaved
cudweed is even scarcer in Germany
than in the UK and has its main
distribution around the
Mediterranean. A pleasing aspect
about this find is that nothing needs
to be done to ensure the plant’s
survival which only seems to depend
on the continued use of the CCDA for
its current purpose.
John Moon
Botanist
Bulford Conservation Group
92
Sanctuary 44 • 2015