Man-hunt

Back to busyness today, leading a botanical field trip to the Woodnook Valley and Boothby Great Wood. The weather was amazing, and the threatened heavy showers held off. 

At Woodnook Valley one of our main objectives was to estimate the size of the Man Orchid population, at one of its more northerly British locations. We were expecting to find one largish colony, but instead found five of varying sizes, with a total count of at least 200. On the north-facing slope, many spikes were only just coming into flower so I suspect we missed quite a few. We also found a small group of Green-winged Orchid (see extra), the first I'd seen in South Lincolnshire.

The interest of Woodnook Valley wasn't confined to the plants. We sat and ate our packed lunch surrounded by Dingy Skippers (see extra), which are a declining species that particularly favours warm, sheltered calcareous grasslands. Later we located a colony of Four-spotted Moth (see extra), a very rare day-flying moth that feeds on Field Bindweed, but only in sheltered, sunny and parched locations. This is currently the most northerly population in Britain.

We thought that Boothby Great Wood might not be quite as exciting, having been managed for commercial forestry for many years. But from the start it was clear that a rich ancient woodland ground flora had survived, with good populations of a number of species that are uncommon in South Lincolnshire including Woodruff, Yellow Pimpernel, Oval Sedge,  and Purple Small-reed.

I arrived home at about 6pm, and after a delicious meal cooked by Pete, finished my ids and entered all the data, before finally collapsing into bed at around midnight - totally shattered!!