{"id":894,"date":"2010-07-06T15:05:10","date_gmt":"2010-07-06T20:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/?p=894"},"modified":"2010-09-04T04:33:42","modified_gmt":"2010-09-04T09:33:42","slug":"sandham-memorial-chapel-6th-july-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rdnhs.org.uk\/blog\/sandham-memorial-chapel-6th-july-2010\/","title":{"rendered":"Sandham Memorial Chapel – 6th July 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

Malcolm Storey arranged a visit to the National Trust’s Sandham Memorial Chapel, near Burghclere, on Tuesday 6th<\/sup> July. The first part of the evening was spent in the wildflower meadow of the orchard in front of the chapel. Due to the recent hot and dry weather, the meadow was a little past its best, but there was still a good display of Common Knapweed, Yellow Rattle and Common Spotted-orchids and a single Pyramidal Orchid was in flower. A white rose growing in the hedge was identified by its prominent style as Field Rose Rosa arvensis<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Malcolm reported that, in a recent nationwide survey of wax-cap fungi at National Trust properties, the Sandham orchard had topped the poll for the number of species recorded. Michael Keith-Lucas gave a few tips on grass identification. He compared Creeping Soft-grass Holcus mollis<\/em>, with its ring of small hairs around the nodes, <\/em>and Yorkshire-fog Holcus lanatus, <\/em>and recommended remembering that ‘Molly has hairy knees’ in order to separate the two species. Other grasses in the orchard included Crested Dog’s-tail, Common Quaking-grass, Yellow Oat-grass and Sweet Vernal-grass.<\/p>\n

The group then went inside the chapel to admire Stanley Spencer’s wall paintings, which depict battlefield and hospital scenes from the first World War.<\/p>\n