2020 - Adding New Species to my List

I will certainly be glad to see the back of 2020 - the year of Covid 19. I have not recorded as many plants and creatures as usual as I have not been going out any more than I have to. Even in our own garden, I don't want to hang around or handle things more than necessary. However, I have managed to add 53 new species to my lists. Of these, 25 are species that I have not seen before.  Here are some of them.

 

Field Penny Cress - 1 Jan, Uckfield

The year started normally, with the now traditional BSBI New Year Plant hunt. I found a few plants in flower outside Barney's Play Barn. Not only was the Field Penny Cress (Thlaspi arvense) new to my personal species list but it was new for Uckfield's "square" on the map.  

Winter Heliotrope - 1 Jan, Uckfield

Another new entry was Winter Heliotrope (Petasites fragrans). For the first time, I noticed the great mass of it on the London Road, just South of the Ringles. 

Lecidella elaeochroma - 16 Feb, Uckfield

February winds often blow branches down, bringing lichens to my level. The one shown is Lecidella elaeochroma, with its distinctive black fruiting bodies.

Common Pincushion moss - 7 March, Staplefield

At the beginning of March, I went to the Sussex Botanical Recording Society meeting at Staplefield. For those that don't remember the "before times", a meeting is when loads of people get together to discuss matters of common interest. In this case it also entailed a visit to a "pub" where a group of botanists shared a convivial meal. On a wall at its entrance, I found a species of moss that I had not noticed before, the Common Pincushion (Dicranoweisia cirrata).

Canary Grass - 7 June, Uckfield

A week or two after this, Covid 19 started spreading across the country and the Government directed us to "lockdown". A few weeks later, the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland responded by asking people to do the BSBI Garden Wildflower Hunt. Between April and September, I found over a hundred species including a couple that I have never encountered before. I suspect that the Canary Grass (Phalaris canariensis) shown is from some stray bird seed. It even won me a little prize in a photo competition.

Spotted Longhorn beetle - 14 Jun, Uckfield

Summer brought all manor of flying insects to the garden including the Spotted Longhorn beetle (Rutpela maculata).

Tawny Longhorn beetle - 12 July, Uckfield

In the first few months of the pandemic, I wasn't happy about the gardener coming to mow the grass. Although I mowed it myself, I left more of the flowers, including the Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), to bloom. As a reward, I was treated to visits from a Tawny Longhorn beetle (Paracorymbia fulva).

Orange Swift - 15 Aug, our kitchen

As we moved into summer, moths started to appear. Mum found one of our new species, an Orange Swift (Triodia sylvina) in our kitchen. 

Broom Fork-moss - 14 Sept, Ashdown Forest

In September, Mum and I finally managed a proper outing, to Ashdown Forest. After enjoying the views and catching a glimpse of what might have been a Red Kite, I noticed this little Broom Fork-moss (Dicranum scoparium) growing by the path back to the car park.

Upright Corel fungus - 13 Oct, Uckfield

While hanging around waiting for Mum to come out her podiatrist appointment, I found an Upright Corel (Ramaria stricta) fungus at the bottom of a hedge.

Dog's vomit slime mould - 21 Nov, Uckfield

After doing a run, I cut across the Dene to avoid some people on the path and found the revoltingly named Dog's vomit slime mould (Mucilago crustacea).

Witches butter - 26 Dec, Uckfield

In the last few days of the year, I had a look round the garden to see what I could find. The strange yellow blob that appeared on one of our old oak logs is Witches butter (Tremella aurantia), which grows on other fungi.

I am already planning my next New Year Plant Hunt. This time, it's not about timing my arrival at The Station pub to coincide with opening. Instead, it is about how to find some flowers without encountering too many people.

Sussex Botanical Recording Society - ghosts and roses

At this time of year the Sussex Botanical Recording Society (SBRS) holds its AGM at Staplefield.

The Victory Pub, which does very nice lunches.

My first priority when I got to Staplefield,  was lunch.

Dicranoweisia cirrata (Common Pincushion) 

As there was a few minutes before the pub opened, I photographed a moss just outside, in the hope of identifying it later. Two of the more intrepid members of the Society were busy recording the plants on the village green. They joined me and we had a lovely lunch in the pub.

Treasure!

I was helping to arrange chairs in the Village Hall when treasure appeared in the form of books.  I selected a few including Walley Dod's Sussex Flora of 1937 and a big book of mosses. When I looked through Wolley Dod in the evening, the Uckfield I know was suddenly filled with the ghosts of long-gone cornfields, ponds and other places where wild plants once thrived. After the usual formalities, there were interesting and informative presentations.

• There a just a few churchyards to go for the New Church Yard survey. The records are at the Biological Record Centre.
• In 2017, I did Uckfield's Holy Cross churchyard 
• The Village Greens and Recreation Grounds survey is under way. 
• In 2018, I did the Rugby Club, The Dene, Luxford Field, Hempstead Playing Fields
• In 2019, I did Victoria Pleasure Grounds
• In 2020, I aim to do the Recreation Area at Harlands, where the toad pond is.
• There was a tour of the field meetings. 
• In March 2019, I took part in the Henfield moss field trip and have been struggling to learn more about mosses ever since!
• Later in the year, I took part in the Plaw Hatch visit. It was here that I first met  Sonchus arvensis (Perennial Sow Thistle) - and kept on seeing it for the rest of the year. I do wonder how I failed to notice it before.
• This year, I hope to go to the Ashdown Forest one in August.

I hope to go looking for roses this year.

It has been suggested that we look out for roses as many of those listed in Wolley Dod have not been re-found. We don't get that many wild roses round Uckfield and my "new" Wolley Dod doesn't mention Uckfield or the nearby villages much in this section.

Notes from Charlotte Smith talk.

Brad Scott gave a splendid talk about one of Sussex's earliest women botanists, Charlotte Smith, who was a successful writer in the 1700s. Her poetry and books give such vivid descriptions of wild plants and the places where she encountered them that I half expect to catch a glimpse of a bonnet and a long dress, the next time I go botanising.

There will be the usual photo competition:

• close up
• wild plant in churchyard habitat

All that remains is for me to dust off my recording sheets and get going again because "I aint afraid of no ghost!"