Tropical sunset?

No, just a Peterborough sunset, seen from our garden. A colourful flourish at the end of a fairly grey and miserable day, that involved a sizable group of botanists getting soaked.

We arrived at the northern end of the Swinstead Valley at 10 a.m. but by 1 p.m. the rain had defeated us! Nevertheless, we found some high quality limestone grassland on the steeper banks of the valley side with abundant Harebell and Common Rock-rose, as well as locally frequent Clustered Bellflower and Common Thyme. 

Two unexpected candidate Rare Plant Register species were also found - a rather straggly looking specimen of Dyer's Greenweed and a single plant of Long-stalked Crane's-bill. The Dyer's Greenweed has never been recorded from the north end of the valley, though there are old records from the SSSI further south, the most recent from 1995. 

The limestone grassland of The Anthills was less rich overall, with extensive areas of rank (and slippery) Tor-grass. Horseshoe-vetch was locally abundant in two areas, and a good range of limestone indicator species was present, although most were quite sparse, and confined to the better grazed swards which were associated with somewhat gentler slopes.

It was sad to say goodbye to everyone at the end of our last field meeting of 2021. The next time we'll meet will be for the BSBI New Year Plant Hunt!