Encouraged by yesterday's success with the two Redstarts I went for a late afternoon walk around Burgess Field again. On the way out there I spotted a couple of people scouring the Port Meadow grassland carefully and I guessed that they were after the rare plant Creeping Marshwort (which is only found on Port Meadow). In Burgess Field the adult make REDSTART was still in the same hedge and I could well believe that the other one might be about too as there is a lot of cover in which it could hide. Apart from that it was the usual skulking warblers.
On the way home I met up with the two plant chaps who had indeed been looking for Creeping Marshwort though they'd had no luck. I offered to show them where I'd seen it five years previously (see
here) as best as I could remember which they happily accepted.
 |
| A reminder of Creeping Marshwort from August 2009 |
In passing they pointed out all sorts of other good plants that I didn't know. I've always felt that a short time with a good botanist would teach me far more than the hours of amateur bumbling around that I normally do. I left them searching with renewed vigour back on the Meadow though it's a pretty hard task to find such a small creeping plant in such a big area. Below are the plants that they showed me.
 |
| Strawberry Clover ... |
 |
| ...so called because the fruit looks a bit like a strawberry |
 |
| Tubular Water Dropwort |
 |
| Marsh Arrow-grass |
No comments:
Post a Comment