Renéee Grayer led a walk at the National Trust’s Watlington Hill on a pleasant sunny afternoon on Saturday 15th September. A number of butterflies were flying round the car park, including a Holly Blue, a Red Admiral and a Speckled Wood. The party set out through the woodland and out onto the open hillside. Vervain, Yellow Rattle in abundance, Wild Basil, Common Centaury and Yellow-wort were amongst the first flowers encountered. A small-flowered gentian was identified as Autumn Gentian. Many of them had already finished flowering. A much larger-flowered plant was clearly a Chiltern Gentian, with transverse wrinkles up the outside of the corolla tube and a relatively short calyx at its base. But then a number of intermediate flowers were found, showing characteristics of both plants – perhaps hybrids between the 2 species. A single Small Heath butterfly was spotted on a sheltered slope. Then the Frog Orchids started to appear – first one, then 5 and eventually about 30. They are small and yellowish-green and very easily overlooked. There were white-flowered specimens of Small Scabious and Common Milkwort and other finds included Blue Fleabane, Common Rock-rose, Squinancywort and Eyebright. The spikes of Heath Speedwell were found on top of ant-hills.
On the short grassland at the top of the ridge were rings of an orange fungus with a sunken cap, probably some sort of Milk-cap. Also found here was a specimen of The Miller, which had a smooth pale cap, a distinctive smell and an off-centre stalk. In the disturbed soil where the Sonning Common Green Gym had cut down encroaching hawthorn last winter were clumps of Wild Candytuft and a single plant of Deadly Nightshade. A male Brimstone butterfly flew past as the group walked back into woods.
Pictures by Rob Stallard and Jan Haseler
| RDNHS excursion to Watlington Hill (15-9-2012) | |
| Leader: Renée Grayer; 15 participants | |
| Plants | |
| Agrimonia eupatoria | Agrimony |
| Asperula cynanchica | Squinancywort |
| Atropa belladonna | Deadly Nightshade (leaves) |
| Betula pendula | Silverbirch |
| Blackstonia perfoliata | Yellowwort |
| Brachypodium sylvaticum | False Brome |
| Briza media | Quaking-grass |
| Campanula rotundifolia | Harebell |
| Campanula glomerata | Clustered Bellflower |
| Carlina vulgaris | Carline Thistle |
| Centaurium erythraea | Common Centaury |
| Chamerion angustifolium | Rosebay Willowherb |
| Cirsium acaule | Dwarf Thistle |
| Cirsium arvense | Creeping Thistle |
| Cirsium palustre | Marsh Thistle |
| Cirsium vulgare | Spear Thistle |
| Clematis vitalba | Traveller’s-joy |
| Clinopodium vulgare | Wild Basil |
| Coeloglossum viride | Frog Orchid |
| Cornus sanguinea | Dogwood |
| Crataegus monogyna | Hawthorn |
| Crepis capillaris | Smooth Hawk’s-beard |
| Epilobium montanum | Broad-leaved Willowherb |
| Erigeron acer | Blue Fleabane |
| Euphrasia pseudokerneri | Chalk Eyebright |
| Fragaria vesca | Wild Strawberry |
| Galium verum | Lady’s Bedstraw |
| Gentianella amarella | Autumn Gentian |
| Gentianella germanica | Chiltern Gentian |
| Glechoma hederacea | Ground-ivy (leaves) |
| Helianthemum nummularium | Common Rock-rose |
| Hypericum perforatum | Perforate St John’s-wort |
| Iberis amara | Wild Candytuft |
| Ligustrum vulgare | Wild Privet |
| Linum catharticum | Fairy Flax |
| Lotus corniculatus | Common Bird’s-foot-trefoil |
| Mentha arvensis | Corn Mint |
| Myosotis arvensis | Field Forget-me-not |
| Origanum vulgare | Marjoram |
| Polygala vulgaris | Common Milkwort (with white flowers) |
| Potentilla erecta | Tormentil |
| Prunella vulgaris | Selfheal |
| Reseda lutea | Wild Mignonette |
| Reseda luteola | Weld |
| Rhinanthus minor | Yellow-rattle |
| Rubus fruticosus agg. | Bramble |
| Sambucus nigra | Elder |
| Sanguisorba minor | Salad Burnet |
| Scabiosa columbaria | Small Scabious (one with white flowers) |
| Senecio jacobaea | Common Ragwort |
| Taxus baccata | Yew |
| Thymus polytrichus | Wild Thyme |
| Ulex europaeus | Gorse |
| Urtica dioica | Common Nettle |
| Verbascum nigrum | Dark Mullein |
| Verbena officinalis | Vervain |
| Veronica officinalis | Heath Speedwell |
| Viola hirta | Hairy Violet (leaves) |
| Butterflies | |
| Brimstone | |
| Holly Blue | |
| Red Admiral | |
| Speckled Wood | |
| Small Heath | |