WORCESTERSHIRE FLORA PROJECT: PROGRESS REPORT

Bert Reid

The Worcestershire Flora Project was initiated in 1987 by John Day and Roger Maskew and continues to the present day. It was always envisaged as a marathon rather than a sprint - it takes a lot of fieldwork to attempt to record all the vascular plants in each of 596 tetrads, with full six figure grid references and comments for the scarcer taxa.

Over the last couple of years the emphasis has changed from tetrad bashing to more focussed recording. This has partly been driven by the entry onto the database of nearly all available records between 1970 to 1986 in addition to the current project records. These records have enabled lists to be produced for each tetrad of taxa recorded post 1970 but not re-found since 1987. Any concentrations of such records have been prime targets for specific site recording.

We have also concentrated on recording recently described splits of taxa (such as the publishing of new subspecies) and on difficult and critical groups where full coverage will never be practical. In 2001 the foot-and-mouth epidemic restricted access to many areas so the opportunity was taken to improve our recording of the many garden escapes and other ruderals in Worcestershire’s towns and villages. The recording of such plants has become more fashionable since 1987 and this work has improved the consistency of our recording.

At the end of 2002 the average number of taxa in the 596 tetrads stood at 382. If the part tetrads around the edge of the area are excluded this average rises to 416. We have every reason to take pride in this achievement, especially when we started with an expectation of around 300 in the best tetrads - we now have four with over 600!

The two maps show the total number of taxa (adjacent page) in each tetrad and a grey-scale (this page) pattern of floral biodiversity by tetrad. These show some interesting patterns. The south-east of the county is clearly impoverished compared to the north and west, for three main causes: the south-east has a very long history of agriculture with early clearance of nearly all woodland and a predominance of arable; the geology and soils are more uniform than most other areas; and thirdly there are few significant urban areas to bump up totals with garden escapes - Evesham and Broadway stand out as islands of biodiversity.

Urban areas generally show high tetrad totals and Worcester itself is a real hotspot. The champion tetrad is SO87A with an incredible 651 taxa recorded. This tetrad contains most of Stourport, has the River Severn and Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal running through it, and contains a very rich corner of Hartlebury Common. If it only had a bit of ancient semi-natural woodland as well it might reach 700 or more!

The last two years have turned up some exceptional plant records. In 2001 came the first record for Chaffweed Anagallis minima since 1837. This tiny plant was found on Castlemorton Common during a BSBI field meeting. Surprisingly, Harry Green and Brett Westwood found more Chaffweed in 2002, this time in Skeys Wood on the edge of the Wyre Forest near Bewdley. Other 2001 plants included Sea Fern-grass Catapodium marinum on the Evesham Bypass (see Worcestershire Record 11, p.19), two good Eyebright records found by Bill Thompson Euphrasia anglica and E. arctica, the re-finding of Swamp Meadow-grass by John Day in four sites and the discovery of two rare Mullein hybrids by Terry Knight at Church Honeybourne Verbascum thaspus x virgatum and V. pulverulentum x virgatum.

2002 produced another set of excellent records. Roger Maskew found Tawny Sedge Carex hostiana on Castlemorton Common, its second Worcestershire site. In a pond on the common, Will Watson found Floating Club-rush Eleogiton fluitan in possibly in only surviving county site. How many more rarities are still left to be found on Castlemorton Common?

Eight new dandelions Taraxacum from Bert Reid (6) and John Day (2) took the county total to 135 with another specimen from Papermill Meadow which national expert John Richards says “clearly represents an unknown species in section Celtica”. The main theme of 2002 was hybrids. Bill Thompson found the hybrid between Soft Rush and Compact Rush Juncus x kern-reichgeltii on Berrow Downs. Bert Reid recorded the cross between Creeping and Austrian Yellow-cress Rorippa x armoracioides by the River Avon at Fladbury. Will Watson found the nationally rare hybrid between Grey and Purple Willow Salix x pontederiana at Upper Bittell. And last but not least, Chris Westall hunted down two very rare hybrids of Fiddle Dock: with Wood Dock Rumex x mixtus at Cleeve Prior and with Clustered Dock R. x muretii at Clark’s Hill, Evesham.

As well as all this recording effort we have made a start on writing the flora! First drafts of a few of the introductory chapters have been written and the first tentative efforts have been made at a few species accounts. Much work lies ahead, and the finishing line seems a very long way off, but we are into the last few miles of the race.

GREATER WORCESTERSHIRE -  TETRAD TOTALS 31.12.2002

                                                                   
    54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68 70 72 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88 90 92 94 96 98 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
                                                                     
90                                               212                    
88                                             310 420 332           229 240    
86                                             259 410 420           388 343    
84                             102       400 320 409 408 484 383 381     301 290 364 361      
82                       268 210 318 393 327 78   385 446 479 417 490 423 429 424 379 364 418 352 353      
80                       372 459 432 486 454 492 317 321 416 418 447 372 367 403 436 441 400 428 323 188      
78                       423 559 418 452 508 423 402 438 409 502 403 466 418 406 414 470 421 435 383        
76                   173 365 408 534 461 470 472 452 347 422 383 406 430 413 434 442 428 480 421 434 260        
74               203 324 371 478 427 506 587 453 567 407 450 352 398 433 416 439 480 522 441 396 424 432          
72               363 453 417 423 483 403 519 480 514 375 363 409 456 450 453 411 445 447 483 367 367 236          
70         219 361 362 334 382 419 365 350 355 449 651 554 455 361 348 347 311 432 427 415 395 411 437 447 419          
68     166 399 365 430 408 396 419 445 423 350 330 382 499 455 391 380 339 329 343 464 465 430 405 418 466 481 418 247        
66   339 460 492 381 369 401 408 403 357 425 511 475 424 499 320 364 389 327 324 446 448 387 437 417 455 463 537 315 278 207      
64     392 395 367 423 427 313 347 406 412 450 414 381 512 343 416 393 399 393 386 447 405 405 410 452 470 434   146 278      
62     270 402 356 435 424 200 303 377 428 420 321 469 452 463 413 445 564 502 417 364 336 388 368 363 280              
60     308 372 307 239 214 159 388 353 409 543 353 405 475 519 470 420 389 394 384 370 370 421 446 363 373              
58                 210 187 406 479 443 389 406 554 522 477 428 381 417 401 379 373 410 330 393            
56                     513 506 413 356 468 541 523 506 447 371 366 362 385 363 388 367 370            
54                   223 527 421 425 367 453 506 613 532 411 381 381 426 397 352 377 370 285            
52                   374 447 473 407 431 493 514 520 492 372 322 332 300 329 311 384 444 160            
50               219 282 346 424 442 427 411 444 458 407 444 431 333 335 302 325 348 376 398 321 222 298 146      
48               193 284 146 160 134 420 509 438 479 464 398 369 414 375 351 307 314 343 307 337 384 409 281 188 169  
46                   183 252 394 592 567 464 457 438 445 422 431 372 444 384 412 437 388 387 450 293 254 297 252 87
44                   195 481 440 623 608 487 510 451 434 445 329 527 409 320 392 325 467 403 344 332 333 345 223  
42                     230 133 508 457 480 367 372 415 436 428 378 399 304 303 309 463 428 396 349 292 280    
40                         494 460 439 420 530 492 351 379 335 409 354 410 325 397 278 376 234 210      
38                         513 485 409 352 421 371 248 413 440 421 349 371 342 354 307 353 364 233      
36                       54 518 448 351 368 336 447   314 474 434 379 428 267 201 222 222 508 521 211    
34                       212 436 397 385 335 359 344 146 298 289 251 376 251         221 353 250    
32                       326 390 393 355 352 377 331 325 270   165 246               100    
30                     215 425 406 435 404 367 398 251                              
28                     256 326 340 376 147 221 200 246                              
26                         118 70                                      

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