On a fine Sunday afternoon, 11 members and friends took part in a walk around the BBOWT reserve Dry Sandford Pit near Abingdon, Oxfordshire. The walk was led by Alan Parfitt, who explained that the limestone cliffs here date back as long ago as the Jurassic Period. The nature reserve comprises many different habitats such as chalk grasslands, fens, ponds, streams and woods, reflected by the many different species of plants, insects and birds found here. We soon saw a variety of chalk-loving plants such as Wild Basil Clinopodium vulgare, Wild Mignonette Reseda lutea, Musk Thistle Carduus nutans, Agrimony Agrimonia eupatoria, Wild Parsnip Pastinaca sativa, Common Centaury Centaurium erythraea (including a plant with white flowers) and Hairy St John’s-wort Hypericum hirsutum. A bog provided still more interesting species such as the orchids Marsh Helleborine Epipactus palustris, mainly in fruit but some still flowering, Marsh Fragrant-orchid Gymnadenia densiflora and Common Twayblade Neottia ovata. We heard a Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus singing, but could not see it, as is usually the case. In another field with chalk plants we saw the beautiful Greater Knapweed Centauria scabiosa, Lady’s Bedstraw Galium verum, Dark Mullein Verbascum nigrum, Salad Burnet Poterium sanguisorba, Field Scabious Knautia arvensis, Burnet-saxifrage Pimpinella saxifraga and the Woolly Thistle Cirsium eriophorum. One specimen of this magnificent thistle was nearly in flower and there were several enormous leaf rosettes. Many species of butterfly were fluttering in the chalk grasslands, including Comma Polygonia c-album, Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta, Gatekeeper Pyronia tithonus, and we heard the characteristic sound of a Corn Bunting Emberiza calandra. A wet area followed with Water Figwort Scrophularia auriculata, Marsh Thistle Cirsium palustre, Common Fleabane Pulicaria dysenterica and Water Mint Mentha aquatica. Finally we entered a more woody area with Dog’s Mercury Mercurialis perennis, Lords-and-Ladies Arum maculatum with red fruits, Red Currant Ribes rubrum, Common Spotted-orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsia (mainly in fruit), Remote Sedge Carex remota, Wavy Bitter-cress Cardamine flexuosa, Rosebay Willowherb Chamerion angustifolium, Ploughman’s Spikenard Inula conyza and the invasive alien Snowberry Symphoricarpos albus.
Another BBOWT Nature Reserve, Parsonage Moor, is in walking distance from Dry Sandford Pit, so part of our group walked over there after the visit to Dry Sandford Pit. Prickly Lettuce Lactuca serriola was growing near the gate of the reserve and in the bog we found Water Mint Mentha aquatica again, Black Bog-rush Schoenus nigricans and a large plant of the rare Marsh Lousewort Pedicularis palustris. Lots of leaves of Grass-of-Parnassus Parnassia palustrus seem to be present, but no plant was flowering yet. Because of an approaching pitch-black sky, we did not stay long in Parsonage Moor, so that we could be back in the cars before the heavens opened.
Report by Renée Grayer
Pictures by Rob Stallard
| Dry Sandford Pit, species list 16/07/2107 | ||
| Scientific name | English name | Remarks |
| Achillea millefolium | Yarrow | |
| Agrimonia eupatoria | Agrimony | |
| Angelica sylvestris | Wild Angelica | |
| Arctium minus | Lesser Burdock | |
| Armoracia rusticana | Horse-radish | |
| Arum maculatum | Lords-and-Ladies | |
| Brachypodium sylvaticum | False Brome | |
| Calystegia sepium | Hedge Bindweed | |
| Calystegia silvatica | Large Bindweed | |
| Cardamine flexuosa | Wavy Bitter-cress | |
| Carduus nutans | Musk Thistle | |
| Carex flacca | Glaucous Sedge | |
| Carex remota | Remote Sedge | |
| Carex sylvatica | Wood-sedge | |
| Centaurea scabiosa | Greater Knapweed | |
| Centaurium erythraea | Common Centaury | |
| Centaurium erythraea | Common Centaury | White flowers |
| Cerastium fontanum | Common Mouse-ear | |
| Chamerion angustifolium | Rosebay Willowherb | |
| Circaea lutetiana | Enchanter’s-nightshade | |
| Cirsium eriophorum | Woolly Thistle | |
| Cirsium palustre | Marsh Thistle | |
| Clinopodium vulgare | Wild Basil | |
| Convolvulus arvensis | Field Bindweed | |
| Dactylorhiza fuchsii | Common Spotted-orchid | |
| Daucus carota | Wild Carrot | |
| Dipsacus fullonum | Teasel | |
| Epilobium hirsutum | Great Willowherb | |
| Epipactis palustris | Marsh Helleborine | |
| Eupatorium cannabinum | Hemp-agrimony | |
| Filipendula ulmaria | Meadowsweet | |
| Galium palustre | Common Marsh-bedstraw | |
| Galium verum | Lady’s Bedstraw | |
| Geranium pyrenaicum | Hedgerow Crane’s-bill | |
| Geranium robertianum | Herb-Robert | |
| Geum urbanum | Wood Avens | |
| Glechoma hederacea | Gound-ivy | |
| Gymnadenia densiflora | Marsh Fragrant-orchid | |
| Heracleum sphondylium | Hogweed | |
| Humulus lupulus | Hop | |
| Hypericum hirsutum | Hairy St John’s-wort | |
| Hypericum perforatum | Perforate St John’s-wort | |
| Impatiens glandulifera | Indian Balsam | |
| Inula conyza | Ploughman’s-spikenard | |
| Iris foetidissima | Stinking Iris | |
| Juncus subnodulosus | Blunt-flowered Rush | |
| Knautia arvensis | Field Scabious | |
| Lamium album | White Dead-nettle | |
| Leucanthemum vulgare | Oxeye Daisy | |
| Linaria vulgaris | Common Toadflax | |
| Linum catharticum | Fairy Flax | |
| Lotus corniculatus | Common Bird’s-foot-trefoil | |
| Malva moschata | Musk Mallow | |
| Mentha aquatica | Water Mint | |
| Mercurialis perennis | Dog’s Mercury | |
| Neottia ovata | Twayblade | |
| Odontites vernus | Red Bartsia | |
| Ononis repens | Common Restharrow | |
| Origanum vulgare | Wild Marjoram | |
| Pastinaca sativa | Wild Parsnip | |
| Phleum pratense | Timothy | |
| Pilosella officinarum | Mouse-ear Hawkweed | |
| Pimpinella saxifraga | Burnet-saxifrage | |
| Plantago lanceolata | Ribwort Plantain | |
| Potentilla reptans | Creeping Cinquefoil | |
| Poterium sanguisorba | Salad Burnet | |
| Prunella vulgaris | Selfheal | |
| Pulicaria dysenterica | Common Fleabane | |
| Reseda lutea | Wild Mignonette | |
| Ribes rubrum | Red Currant | |
| Rubus fruticosus agg. | Bramble | |
| Rumex sanguineus | Wood Dock | |
| Scrophularia auriculata | Water Figwort | |
| Sedum acre | Biting Stonecrop | Leaves |
| Silene dioica | Red Campion | |
| Silene latifolia | White Campion | |
| Silene vulgaris | Bladder Campion | |
| Solanum dulcamara | Bittersweet | |
| Stachys sylvatica | Hedge Woundwort | |
| Symphoricarpos rivularis | Snowberry | |
| Symphytum officinale | Common Comfrey | |
| Tamus communis | Black Bryony | |
| Taraxacum officinale agg. | Dandelion | |
| Torilis japonica | Upright Hedge-parsley | |
| Trifolium pratense | Red Clover | |
| Tussilago farfara | Colt’s-foot | Leaves |
| Verbascum nigrum | Dark Mullein | |
| Verbascum thapsus | Great Mullein | Leaf rosette |
| Butterflies species: | ||
| Aphantopus hyperanthus | Ringlet | |
| Pararge aegeria | Speckled Wood | |
| Polygonia c-album | Comma | |
| Pyronia tithonus | Gatekeeper | |
| Vanessa atalanta | Red Admiral | |
| Bird species: | ||
| Acrocephalus scirpaceus | Reed Warbler | |
| Emberiza calandra | Corn Bunting | |
| Parsonage Moor, Cothill, RDNHS trip 16/07/17 | ||
| Carex sylvatica | Wood-sedge | |
| Galium uliginosum | Fen Bedstraw | |
| Hypericum tetrapterum | Square-stalked St John’s-wort | |
| Lactuca serriola | Prickly Lettue | |
| Lotus corniculatus | Common Bird’s-foot-trefoil | |
| Mentha aquatica | Water Mint | |
| Parnassia palustris | Grass-of-Parnassus | |
| Pedicularis palustris | Marsh Lousewort | |
| Schoenus nigricans | Black Bog-rush | |
List by Renée Grayer