Worcestershire Record No. 25 November 2008 p. 43

Bert Reid

This field meeting was a complete contrast to the Hipton Hill visit. Instead of an orchard on poorly drained calcareous clays, here we had heathland and woodland on well drained marls and sandstones. The flora was completely different, with only the least fussy plants in common. The morning was spent on the heathland common, where many localised species were found. Brown Bent Agrostis vinealis is rare (though sometimes overlooked) in the county and we found it in this known site. The heath is mainly grassland, and here were Pill Sedge Carex pilulifera, Heath Bedstraw Galium saxatile, Wavy Hair-grass Deschampsia flexuosa, Heath Milkwort Polygala serpyllifolia Harebell Campanula rotundifolia and Heath Groundsel Senecio sylvaticus. The dwarf shrub heath had Heather Calluna vulgaris, Bell Heather Erica cinerea, Western Gorse Ulex gallii, and less expectedly several plants of Alder Buckthorn Frangula alnus. A different set of plants was by a recently restored pond; Common Yellow-sedge Carex viridula ssp oedocarpa, Marsh Pennywort Hydrocotyle vulgaris and Bristle Club-rush Isolepis setacea.

Hurst Coppice had many of the same plants, but with the addition of more typical woodland plants such as Hard-fern Blechnum spicant, Narrow Buckler-fern Dryopteris carthusiana, Bitter-vetch Lathyrus linifolius, Common Cow-wheat Melampyrum pratense, Lousewort Pedicularis sylvatica and Saw-wort Serratula tinctoria. The best find here was Lesser Skullcap Scutellaria minor. This is only known from 9 tetrads in the county, most in the Wyre Forest area, since 1987.

Bert Reid and Jackie Hardy recorded all the above plants. John Bingham also recorded plants during the day, adding several good finds including Flea Sedge Carex pulicaris, Southern Marsh-orchid Dactylorhiza praetermissa, Cross-leaved Heath Erica tetralix, Heath Rush Juncus squarrosus, Lemon-scented Fern Oreopteris limbosperma and Wood Club-rush Scirpus sylvaticus.