Adapted from a Short Meeting Report to Kent Field Club

Kent Field Club Visit to the Plotlands Thirteen Kent Field Club members met in very good weather to explore the Plotlands area of Nor and Lodge Woods, part of Cobham Woods SSSI and composed of broadleaved and mixed woodland, focussing particularly on the Orchard (Warren Plain). The Chair of the Trust, Roger Savage, kindly gave up his morning to conduct us through to the Orchard and provide background information. One purpose of the day was to assist in providing a recent baseline of flora as management of the grassland area proceeds with assistance from Plantlife. Large aggregations of dragonflies (Aeshna sp. and Sympetrum sp.) were observed overhead along the rides at the edge of the woodland. These were bordered by scrub and hedgerow plants including Wild Liquorice Astragalus glycyphyllos, a characteristic plant of the area and the host of the Liquorice Piercer moth Grapholita pallifrontana, a Biodiversity Action Plan Priority species due to its decline in the UK in recent decades. This species is rarely recorded in Kent but may yet be found in the Plotlands and would help to guide management as well as highlight the value of the site. At the Orchard, 47 vascular plant species were identified including Man Orchid Orchis anthropophora, Smooth Meadow Oatgrass Helictotrichon pratense and a small patch of Barren Strawberry Potentilla sterilis at the edge of the grassland. The resulting list strongly agreed with that previously compiled for the Trust by Hilary Savage, so we are already in a good position to monitor any future changes. Insects found here included Chalkhill Blue Butterfly Polyommatus coridon, Spotted Longhorn Beetle Rutpela maculata and five species of Orthoptera (grasshoppers and crickets). Fruiting bodies of Amanita echinocephala, a summer-fruiting chalk specialist fungus, were found after leaving the Orchard. Eventually (after the leader got the group slightly lost) we continued into the National Trust’s Cobham Park including a visit to Darnley Mausoleum. Additional insect species found here were a specimen of the Hill Cuckoo Bumblebee Bombus rupestris and nymphs of the under-recorded Ash Whitefly Siphoninus phillyreae. Some excitement was generated by a patch of Stinking Chamomile Anthemis cotula in a tractor rut amongst the trees (common in the area on agricultural land but less so elsewhere in north Kent). A fine cluster of Fairies Bonnets mushrooms Coprinus disseminates was found next to the path and Hedgerow Cranesbill Geranium pyrenaicum on the way back to the car park. Bryophyte (mosses and liverworts) and fungi records may have been limited by the dry summer and the time of year, but we were fortunate to have the expertise of Jan Hendey, Joyce Pitt and Mario Tortelli available, while Ishpi Blatchley pursued the lichens. Of the 25 species of bryophytes recorded by Jan Hendey, most were common and widespread, with no rarities among the chalk grassland assemblage. The exceptions were the rarely recorded Henediella macrophylla, found on shaded soil, and the unexpected occurrence of the wall specialist Rhyncostegium murale on the base of a hornbeam, though this may have been introduced by fly-tipping or the construction of various structures and brick paths in the past. Ishpi Blatchley recorded 41 species of lichen through the day with the most interesting records from the plum trees in the Orchard - Usnea flammea (second record for west Kent) and Pseudevernia furfuracea (declining in Kent). In addition, 58 vascular plants, 39 arthropods and 13 mycorrhizal fungi were identified on the day. Joyce Pitt had surveyed the area previously during the SSSI designation process in the 1980s and expressed her appreciation for the improvements to both the Plotlands and Cobham Park, in terms of both habitats and safety. Simon Springate 3rd August 2014 .

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