Another unintended consequence has arisen as gardeners’ attention has been caught by publications promoting wild areas in our gardens. Some exotic garden plants are now being removed and tipped over the fence in favour of wild flowers which are in some cases being dug up from native woodland. Orchids, bluebells, wood anemones, and primroses are the most popular woodland “relocators”. Sea campion, birds foot trefoil, ragged robin, and oyster plant (now vanished completely from its main sites on Arran) from coastal areas are miraculously travelling considerable distances overnight. Many garden wild patches are being resown in swathes. However, the seeds broadcast are not necessarily of plants native to the area. Habitats evolve, that is true. However, our inadvertent manipulation of plant habitat by tipping our garden rubbish speeds up that change and not every native plant can adapt or cope with it. We are blissfully uninterested in the damage our “I don’t want it, you can have it” over the fence tipping causes to our native species. On the plus side, my plant ID knowledge is expanding! Ben Lawers field meeting (Joint BSBI, NTS, PSNS) Sunday 25 July 2021 GRASSES, SEDGES & RUSHES (TRAINING)
This meeting was originally planned as a follow-up to graminoid workshops in 2020 and 2021 which, because of the pandemic, didn't take place. Car parking at Ben Lawers on a summer weekend having become something of a nightmare, we divided into two groups. The first group, led by Dan Watson, met at 8am in the main car park. This group comprised, by and large, the more experienced and fitter members. The second group met at the more civilised hour of 10am at the low level car park at Kiltyrie, leaders Faith Anstey and Marion Moir. The weather was glorious, almost too hot, especially at the lower level, and all participants declared they had a super day and learnt a great deal about graminoids. GROUP ONE
Seven hardy botanists joined the group which met at 8:00 to reach the higher ground on Ben Lawers. We started by going through the differences between grasses, sedges and rushes, using some convenient Tufted Hair-grass (Deschampsia cespitosa), Green-ribbed Sedge (Carex binervis) and Soft Rush (Juncus effusus) close to the path. Common species such as Crested Dog’s-tail Cynosurus cristatus), Oval Sedge (Carex leporina) and Jointed Rush (Juncus articulatus) were inspected on the way through the nature trail, with flush
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