Worcestershire Recorders Field Meetings [Recording Days] 2011

Harry Green (Compiler)

Tables of results of the meetings (Recording Days)

9	Day	John	Vascular Plants. Cherry Orchard Recording Day 2nd July 2011
10	Day	John	Vascular Plants. Field Meeting Birchfields 4th June 2011
11	Day	John	Vascular Plants. Field Recording Day Wilden Marsh 6th August 2011
13	Green	Harry	Birchfield Field Recording Day 4th June 2010
16	Green	Harry	Field Recording Day Cherry Orchard, Worcester, 2nd July 2010
17	Green	Harry	Field Recording Day Wilden Marsh 6th August 2011
27	Reid	Bert	Vascular Plant Records 2010 and 2011

Three meetings were arranged as follows

Birchfield, Upper Rochford. Saturday 4^th June 2011. Visit by kind permission of owner Danny Arnold and organised in association with the Teme Valley Wildlife Group. Birchfield is situated high on the south side of the Teme Valley about 5 km east of Tenbury Wells, central Grid Reference SO644668. It proved to be a very interesting place for recorders with a mixture of old cherry and apple orchards, rough and grazed grassland, scrub, hedges, marshy areas, woodland, a stream valley with several pools, and gardens. Danny is also well prepared for wildlife visitors so there are excellent facilities! See Figs. 1-4.

Cherry Orchard at Worcester and the River Severn downstream of Diglis Lock. Saturday 2^nd July 2011. Central Grid reference SO850530. The visit to Cherry Orchard kindly arranged by Warwick Neale, Parks Green Network Officer, Worcester City Council. The area visited contained a great range of habitats: grasslands, wet and dry scrub, steep river bank, tall herbaceous vegetation, bare sandy areas derived from material dredged from the River Severn in the past, and the river itself (See Figs. 5-11). The number of plant species recorded at the site is very large and includes various aliens originating from gardens. The invertebrates are outstanding. The water level in the river was very low at the times of the visit so more easily accessed for aquatic invertebrates than usual. Because of this a further later visit was also arranged with members of the Conchological Society of Great Britain & Ireland. The records from later visits are not included in the attached lists – see section elsewhere in this Worcestershire Record on water beetles found in the Rivers Severn and Teme written by Will Watson.

Wilden Marsh Wildlife Reserve. Saturday 6^th August 2011. Central grid reference SO827735. Visit by kind permission of Worcestershire Wildlife Trust. Wilden Marsh became much less marshy when the River Stour was dredged and deepened. Recent remedial work including construction of stone weirs in the river has raised the water table somewhat and this together with improved ditch management is re-establishing marshy conditions in some areas. The marsh is also usefully grazed by cattle. In the winter before the visit extensive ditch dredging had taken place as part of the conservation of the site. The range of habitats includes rough dry, wet and marshy grassland, alder woods, river bank vegetation and dry sandy grassland at the north end. The site proved excellent for invertebrates, especially Diptera. See Figs. 12-18.

Recorders

Birchfield 22 booked and 17 attended from Worcestershire Recorders and many others attended from the Teme Valley Wildlife Group.

Cherry Orchard 17 booked and 16 attended.

Wilden Marsh 24 booked and 19 attended.

The lists that follow contain all the records received by WBRC by December 2011. Outstanding records are still very welcome and should be sent to Simon Wood, WBRC Manager, at records@wbrc.org.uk or to the address on the back of Worcestershire Record. The aim of these recording days is to obtain a snapshot of the species on the site for the visit day. The lists may be more interesting to people in one hundred years time than now!

The lists of Vascular Plants were compiled by John Day and Bert Reid. All other records extracted from the WBRC database.

RECORDERS NAMES AND INITIALS USED IN THE TABLES.

Alan Lawson	AL
Bert Reid	AWR
Brett Westwood	BW
Dave Scott	DS
David Barnett	DB
Denzil Devos	DD
Gary Farmer	GAF
Geoff Trevis	GHT
Harry Green	GHG
Jane Scott	JS
John Bingham	JB
John Day	JD
John Meiklejohn	JWM
John Partridge	WJP
Mervyn Needham	MN
Mick Blythe	MEB
Mike Averill	MA
Mike Inskip	MI
Rosemary Winnall	RAW
Steve Davies	SD
Tony Simpson	AS
Will Watson	WW

Images

Fig. 01. Orobanche rapum-genistae Greater Broomrape at Birchfield. Harry Green

Fig. 02. Rutpela maculata at Birchfield. Harry Green

Fig. 03. Worcestershire Recorders at Birchfield. Harry Green

Fig. 04. Reed beetle at Birchfield pools. Harry Green

Fig. 05. Tall vegetation at Cherry Orchard. Harry Green

Fig. 06. Sandy area at Cherry Orchard. Harry Green

Fig. 07. Ruderal plants and botanists at Cherry Orchard. Harry Green

Fig. 08. River Severn from footbridge looking north to Diglis lock and weir. Harry Green

Fig. 09. Recording on west bank of River Severn below Diglis weir. Harry Green

Fig. 10. Recording aquatic animals in River Severn below Diglis weir. Harry Green.

Fig. 11. Aquatic animals from the River Severn below Diglis weir. Harry Green

Fig. 12. Worcestershire Recorders at Wilden Marsh. Paul Meers

Fig. 13. Wilden Marsh ditch vegetation. Harry Green

Fig. 14. Rough grazing by cattle at Wilden Marsh. Harry Green

Fig. 15. Marshy field at Wilden Marsh. Harry Green

Fig. 16. Rivers Stour at Wilden Marsh with stands of Himalayan balsam. Harry Green

Fig. 17. Worcestershire Recorders in Wilden Marsh. Harry Green

Fig. 18. Dry grazing on sandy soils N end Wilden Marsh. Harry Green.