down onto the beach. It didn’t take long before I found the Danish Scurvygrass, on the bare dry rocky areas of the cliff-face. It was surprisingly abundant, but only near the east side of the monad, and I couldn’t find it in any other monads in the hectad. Whilst walking along the beach I noticed a number of sedge rosettes on the rockface, and instantly thought they could be Carex punctata (Dotted Sedge), just because of the greenish-yellow colour of the leaves. I had no field guides on me, and I didn’t want to collect a specimen. On returning home and checking my database I was surprised, as I had forgotten, that I had found one clump of Dotted Sedge on the Co. Waterford side of the estuary at Creadan in 2005. I returned in early July to take a look at my sedge. Sure enough it was as predicted, Carex punctata, a new native sedge for Co. Wexford. It was fruiting nicely, and it was found in two separate small populations, one consisting of 14 clumps, and the other of seven. Carex punctata is fairly common on the Irish coast in the far southwest, South Kerry (H1), North Kerry (H2) and West Cork (H3). It is rare along the rest of the coast of Co. Cork, and hasn’t been seen for over 20 years from Mid Cork (H4), and over 120 years from East Cork (H5). It is known from 17 sites in the neighbouring county of Waterford (H6). There is also a cluster of sites on the west coast from West Galway (H16), and one from Co. Clare (H9). As the new site for Carex punctata was from the most eastern county along the south coast I thought I must have the most eastern site in Ireland. I was shocked to find it can be claimed by Co. Waterford. The headland of Creadan Head stretches out in Waterford Harbour for over 1km. Where the Dotted Sedge grows is 2 metres east of the Ballyhack site. 2 metres isn’t much, but it is just enough to be able to say Co. Waterford has the most easterly site in Ireland for Dotted Sedge. ----------
An open letter to the BSBI President-elect, Micheline Sheehy Skeffington John Faulkner, Orchard Road, Lough Gall, Co. Armagh Email: jsf@globalnet.co.uk
Dear Micheline Congratulations on becoming BSBI’s President-elect! Your election is very opportune, and I hope you are looking forward to the challenge of taking over when Lynne Farrell steps down at the next AGM. Being President is a wonderful role as you have no job description to follow and you set your own targets. The staff and Board of Trustees do the donkey work. Your boss is the membership as a whole, but three thousand people can’t tell you what to do, so you just listen and get on with it. The downside, of course, is that you are not paid a cent but what does that matter when you are enjoying yourself? PAGE 19
