Sunday 29 January 2017

Lower Deans Wood & Watlington Park

Four botanists met at Watlington Hill (SU79) on a cold but bright morning last Sunday, 22nd January, to explore the nearby Lower Deans Wood. The focus of the meeting was bryophytes, but vascular plants were also recorded. This is an account of what was found.

Friday 20 January 2017

Major roads - a gap in recording coverage?

I've been thinking about gaps in record coverage of certain habitats or groups of plants in Oxfordshire, and this post is about one I believe exists — big roads. Future posts will cover other under-recorded areas. These posts will mostly cover non-native or other human-derived elements of our flora, and that these represent gaps perhaps suggests that Oxfordshire is a more conservation-focused county. Of course this is a good thing, but aliens also tell stories and make the human environment more interesting even if we'd wish they weren't there as conservationists.

Wednesday 4 January 2017

New Year Plant Hunt

Today was the last opportunity to take part in the BSBI's New Year Plant Hunt - a national hunt for wild plants in flower between 1st and 4th January. To my shame I didn't get round to organising an 'official' Oxfordshire New Year Plant Hunt, and so with time running out to take part I dashed out this afternoon to see what I could find flowering in the allotted three hours around the parish of Islip where I live. If you also took part in Oxfordshire do share what you found via the comments box below.