Issue 2 | Autumn/Winter 2015 Newsletter 2015 was another fantastic and busy year for the Society …so we thought we would put together another issue of the newsletter, with this year’s highlights. We hope you enjoy reading through it and join us next year for more recording! In this Issue: Sutton Park Flora - The first season of recording Plus other highlights from 2015 including site visit reports from: Clayhanger SSSI | Daw End Branch Canal | Fens Pools Smooth-stalked Sedge (Carex laevigata) Sutton Park July 2015 SAVE THE DATE! The 2016 AGM will take place on Other dates for your diary: Saturday 27th February 2016 Provisional Field Recording Dates 2016 at 11am 23/03/2016 30/06/2016 Winterbourne House and Garden, 07/04/2016 05/07/2016 16/04/2016 03/08/2016 University of Birmingham, 26/04/2016 13/08/2016 58 Edgbaston Park Road, 09/05/2016 25/08/2016 Birmingham, B15 2RT. 20/05/2016 09/09/2016 01/06/2016 19/09/2016 Note: entrance to Winterbourne Garden 11/06/2016 30/09/2016 will be free for this event! 21/06/2016 Hope to see you there! 2 │ B&BC Botanical Society Newsletter Autumn/Winter 2015 FENS POOLS 15 TH July 2015 We met Anne Daly, our leader for the day, outside the warden's base at the junction of Pensnett Road and Bryce Road in Brierley Hill, and after negotiating the busy B4179, we headed off along the section of canal known as ‘Wide Water’ in the direction of Fens Pools. The typical vegetation along the canal towpath comprises Field Maple, Hazel, Alder, Rowan, Guelder-rose, willows and some very large poplars, and in one spot a large Crataegus pedicillatus Cockspur Thorn, the first of many interesting plants we were to encounter during the day. The “Perry Pond” containing Ranunculus trichophyllus Thread-leaved Water-crowfoot Moving on from where the canal ends we headed along the main path, keeping Grove Pool to our left and Middle Pool to the right, and leaving this path onto a smaller path, we made our way to the “Perry Ponds”, a group of small ponds named in honour of the late naturalist Alan Perry, one of the two local men (the other being Brian Jones) who had the vision of saving the Fens as a nature reserve, and started the Pensnett Wildlife Group, without which the reserve may never have been created. The ponds were originally excavated to provide a cluster of breeding ponds for amphibians, and in particular, for the large population of Great Crested Newts that Fens Pools is renowned for. The typical vegetation in and around the pond Ranunculus trichophyllus Thread-leaved Water-crowfoot margins included Eleocharis palustris Common Spike-rush, Myosotis laxa Tufted Forget-me-not, Juncus tenuis Slender Rush, Elodea nuttallii Nuttall’s Waterweed, Ceratophyllum Once satisfied that we had recorded everything from the emersum Rigid Hornwort and in each of the small ponds we Perry Ponds we continued along the main path towards the encountered a submerged aquatic not found in the others. cindery mounds where Cerastium arvense Field Mouse-ear, a The first pond contained a colony of Zanichellia palustris low-growing, early-flowering perennial has been known from for many years. In Britain this rather large-flowered, native Horned Pondweed and a small amount of Lagarosiphon major Curly Waterweed, the next held Potamogeton Mouse-ear is frequent only in the east of England, and as far as we are aware the only extant Birmingham and Black berch toldii Small Pondweed and in another, on drying out mud, mixed in with Callitriche sp. was a small-flowered Country site for this plant is here at Fens Pools. Several plants Crowfoot with capillary leaves only which we tentatively were soon located although, as we expected they were well determined as Ranunculus trichophyllus Thread-leaved into seed at this time of the year. Water -crowfoot, a plant previously not recorded in Moving on in the direction of the ridge and furrow meadow Birmingham and the Black Country so we were very pleased we passed more Slender Rush. This increasing alien rush is when it was later confirmed as this by John Hawksford, BSBI relatively tolerant of trampling and is often found along path Recorder for Staffordshire. edges. 3 │ B&BC Botanical Society Newsletter Autumn/Winter 2015 On reaching the ridge and furrow meadow, known locally as “the bumpy field” because the ridges and furrows of a by- gone agricultural system are still very evident in places, it was noticeable that there were far fewer ponies here since the clampdown by Dudley Council on stray horses. For many years this meadow has traditionally been a favourite spot for locals to graze their ponies and with very few animals here now the long-term effect this will have on the flora in this area remains to be seen. Ophioglossum vulgatum Adder’s- tongue fern has long been known from this meadow and at one time was relatively easy to find. In recent years heavy grazing from tethered ponies has all but eradicated it from the open parts of the meadow so a challenge was put out to Osmunda regalis Royal Fern the group to see who would be the first to find an Adder’s- tongue. After several minutes of searching the honour went Time constraints prevented us from exploring the large area to Paul Reade who discovered several plants tucked well in of open grassland that opened out before us, so reluctantly amongst bracken, one of the few places that the ponies tend we started to make our way back, pausing briefly to admire to avoid. A closer inspection revealed this to be quite an more White Mulleins and a small colony of Oenothera extensive colony which extended well into the bracken cambrica Small-flowered Evening-primrose in a clearing just thicket. off the main path. As we headed along the top of the bank overlooking Fens Pool we could not resist stopping once again From here we made our way up the bank which brought us into an area of short, open grassland where lunch was taken to admire the colony of Inula conyzae Ploughman’s-spikenard seated on the brickwork remains of a building that once stood growing on the top of the bank overlooking Fens Pool, and here. Suitably refreshed we set off in the general direction of yet another of the many intriguing plants found at this site. Russells Hall Hospital, following a well-defined track which Besides the plants Fens Pools are rich in other wildlife and soon became wooded on both sides. In the half-shade at the during our visit I noted Ringlet, Painted Lady, Small side of this track were four flowering Verbascum lychnitis Tortoiseshell, Meadow Brown, Large Skipper, Large White, White Mullein plants, somewhat of a rarity elsewhere in Common Blue Damselfly and Broad-bodied Chaser. B&BC. The scrubby woodland here also contains many naturalised Cotoneasters, the most frequent of them being Two further visits were made to Fens Pools later in July and Cotoneaster rehderi Bullate Cotoneaster. Others Cotoneasters many more species were added to the list for this site. Our found here include C. horizontalis Wall Cotoneaster, C. record sheets have been submitted to EcoRecord and to John franchetii Franchet’s Cotoneaster and C. simonsii Himalayan Hawksford, the BSBI recorder for Staffordshire and will form Cotoneaster. Skirting the metal-railed fence enclosing a part of the BSBI database for Atlas 2020 which will provide: factory, and descending a slope towards a wet area, we passed a colony of Sambucus ebulus Dwarf Elder on both Maps for both native and introduced taxa sides of the path whose flowers were just beginning to open, Interactive maps able to display frequency and and a little further on, we encountered a fine specimen of distribution at a variety of scales Athyrium filix-femina Lady Fern growing next to a patch of Analyses of changes, summarising the state of the Osmunda regalis Royal Fern, another local rarity. British and Irish flora in 2020 Should anyone wish to become more involved with recording for Atlas 2020, information on how to do so can be found at http://www.bsbi.org.uk/atlas_2020.html Mike Poulton Sambucus ebulus Dwarf Elder 4 │ B&BC Botanical Society Newsletter Autumn/Winter 2015 DAW END BRANCH CANAL TH 12 September 2015 We also had fun with Willowherbs! We saw five species, including both of the ones with spreading hairs: E. hirsutum Although it was a rainy Saturday morning there was quite a Great Willowherb and E. parviflorum Hoary Willowherb. The good turnout. We started at the car park for Park Lime Pits at latter has much smaller flowers, a less shaggy and more plush- SK032001, and recorded a section of the Daw End canal going like hairiness on the stems and leaves which do not clasp the north. stem at the base. Both of these have flowers with deeply lobed stigmas, as does E. montanum Broad-leaved Willowherb, which Where we first encountered the canal there was a low, rather lacks the spreading hairs and had more clearly stalked leaves. bare bank and we suspected that a seed mixture had been applied. There was much Leucanthemum vulgare Ox-eye Daisy, The stems of E. montanum are covered in tiny glandular hairs– a strangely coloured Malva moschata Musk Mallow, a single they glisten if viewed against the light with a hand lens – which flowering plant of Centaurea scabiosa Greater Knapweed and a is also true of E. ciliatum American Willowherb, but in ciliatum lot of Daucus carota Wild Carrot.