Poppies

A splendid midsummer outing to the Drift SSSI, a green lane on the border of South Lincolnshire and Leicestershire with the SLFG. We parked at Saltby Airfield, and before we even reached the SSSI we were spotting interesting species on the edges of the airstrip including Small Mouse-ear, Biting Stonecrop and Mouse-ear Hawkweed.

An area of arable land which had been sown with a seed mix for birds and pollinators occupied a fair amount of time. It was a glorious spectacle, with swathes of deep red Common Poppy, orange-red Long-headed Poppy and white Stinking Chamomile, punctuated by the purple colours of Phacelia and Fodder Kale. Under the canopy we found several very local arable weed species including Small Toadflax, Dwarf Spurge  and a single plant of Night-flowering Catchfly. 

The green lane south of the SSSI supported a good range of calcicole species including the only population of Horseshoe Vetch we found during the day. The grassland of the SSSI didn't disappoint and much appeared in excellent condition with large populations of calcicoles such as Small Scabious and Quaking Grass, as well as good numbers of Bee orchid and a Pyramidal orchid. Some parts of the SSSI had been damaged by vehicle use and were resown with a wildflower mix. Here, the non-native forms of Bird's-foot-trefoil and Ox-eye Daisy were frequent and we also found a single plant of Devil's-bit Scabious.

Further on concrete footings dating from WW2 supported species of parched soils including a good population of Viper's Buglossand smaller amounts of Basil-thyme and Field Mouse-ear. The grassland on the other side of the track was also of high quality with several flowering Twayblade and a small population of pale-pink Common Milkwort a species which seems to have declined significantly in VC53 since 2000. A fun and productive day with plenty more records for the BSBI 2020 Atlas.