Week 2 Review : April 1st

‘Week 2’ Roundup : 1st April

Each evening I peer into my email in-box to view the little parcels of unopened treasure lined up in a column, with subject titles like ‘flowering dates’, ‘first flowerings’, ‘FFDs’, ‘Carex?’ and ‘Only Charlock!’. It’s like Christmas come early, and almost as good as having been there in the field with you and seen them myself! It’s been a remarkably good week for records, too, despite the extent to which daily activities have obviously been curtailed by the Coronavirus ‘lock down’. In fact, you’ve sent in so many records I’ve had to construct a spread-sheet to hold them all; which means that I can now sort the records by date, species, recorder, etc. Mind-boggling stuff….

Anyway, thanks to everyone for sending in their records, not just to those who contributed in ‘Week 1’, but now also Ann Fells, Anne Cole, Chris Billinghurst, David Robins, Dee Holladay, Jeanne Webb, Pat Wolseley and Val Graham, who all joined in the hunt at some point during ‘Week 2’ (Apologies if I’ve missed anyone out.)

In all, you submitted more than 100 records in Week 2, covering at least 50 species. If ‘Week 1’ was wood-rush week, ‘Week 2’ was cowslip-and-foxtail week. As reported last time, Cowslip, Primula veris, was seen by three of us on the 20th, but these widely separated early records heralded a wave of first flowerings for this species across the county: Linda saw her first, near Wellington, on the 23rd, Helena had them already flowering well in her garden in Paulton on the 26th, and then there were records from Somerton on the 27th (David R.), and Chewton Mendip (Ellen) and Winford (Margaret) on the 28th. Meadow Foxtail, Alopecurus pratensis, wasn’t on the target list – omitted because it had already been found flowering exceptionally early, on the 18th, in Taunton. That didn’t stop a surge of first dates for it during the week, though, from Brent Knoll (Andrew), Winford/Frog Lane (Margaret), Postelbury (Gill), Paulton (Helena) and Clevedon (Dee).

Turning now to the 17 target species for ‘Week 2’, a total of 12 were seen either during the week or, in one or two instances, towards the end of the previous week. Running through them in alphabetical order…

Horse Chestnut, Aesculus hippocastanum, began flowering in French Weir Park (Taunton) on the 30th. It always seem to be the same tree each year, but still a very early date for a species that should be at its peak of flowering at the start of May, just when the swifts return. (Something to look forward to, eh?)

Glaucous Sedge, Carex flacca, was seen at Brent Knoll on the 30th (Andrew) and at Kilve today, 1st April (Ro). Very early dates! Pendulous Sedge, Carex pendula, has been seen too, in Wellington on the 29th (Linda), and along the banks of the Sherford stream, Taunton, on the 31st (Simon). In a matter of days we’ll probably find it popping into flower right across the county. (Also on the sedge front, Andrew recorded Wood-sedge, Carex sylvatica, flowering at Brent Knoll; that’s a third record to add to the two from Week 1.)

So far, just the one record of Woodruff, Galium odoratum, from Wooten Hall on the 24th (Ellen). I saw it in bud in Thurlbear Wood on the 20th, but haven’t been back since, for obvious reasons. I imagine some of the woodland paths up there will be lined with its star-burst of flowers by now; I absolutely love Woodruff, and it’s intensely frustrating that I can’t pop out there to see it…

Or maybe Week 2 should be called the ‘week of the Geranium’. We had three of them on our ‘hit list’, and all of them have been notched up by someone somewhere in the county. Shining Crane’s-bill, Geranium lucidum, was seen by Margaret at Winford/Frog Lane on the 26th, and by Steve in North Petherton on the 27th. I’ve been searching hard for this in Taunton – as Vicki will testify – but maddeningly there’s been no sign of it in flower yet, although (slight digression) several patches of it have had leaf-roll galls caused by the mite, Aceria geranii. Dove’s-foot Crane’s-bill, Geranium molle, is just starting to flower now in Taunton – first seen this morning, down near the cricket ground, while Andrew also had it today at Brent Knoll. The first sighting of it, though, was by Steve, in North Petherton, on the 28th.  Hedgerow Crane’s-bill, Geranium pyrenaicum, too, was on my tally of ‘new flowerers’ this morning, down at Firepool Weir, but Jeanne actually reported it already in bloom last week, on the 21st, on the roundabout at Tropiquaria – while, needless to say, she was out there sampling dandelions!

Meadow Buttercup, Ranunculus acris, has now been seen by three people: Caroline, in Minehead, actually saw it last week, on the 21st, while Steve saw it in North Petherton on the 27th and Gill, at Postelbury, on the 30th. In Taunton there’s plenty of Bulbous Buttercup, R. bulbosus, on the road verges especially, but still no sign of R. acris.

Of the willows, Crack-willow, Salix fragilis, catkins are about the last to appear. Goat Willow, S. caprea, and Sallow, S. cinerea, were both ‘flowering’ in the last week of February, but it’s only this week that Crack-willow has finally made its appearance. Jeanne saw it on the 24th in the community orchard in Old Cleeve, while I had it on the 28th, on the banks of the river Tone. Today, during daily exercise, I noticed that many Crack-willow trees were now in catkin, and looking very splendid too.

Dee got in touch to say she’d recorded Charlock, Sinapis arvensis, flowering in Clevedon on the 19th, at the start of ‘Week 1’, but the only other record for this species was today, from Helena. Ro had hedge Mustard, Sisymbrium officinale, at Kilve on the 22nd, while it was also seen in Taunton on the 27th (Simon) and North Petherton on the 28th (Steve).

Common Chickweed, Stellaria media, is a plant you can find in flower pretty much at any time of the year, but its larger cousin, Greater Chickweed, S. neglecta, doesn’t tend to flower until the end of March or early April. And, as if on cue, two of you have seen it this week: Steve in North Petherton, and Linda in Wellington – and both on the 27th.

Amongst the other noteworthy finds of the week were: Tormentil, Potentilla erecta, seen by Pat out at Nettlecombe on the 31st; Hemlock Water-dropwort, Oenanthe crocata,also by Pat, on the 26th, a very early record; Hemlock, Conium maculatum, by me, this morning, down at Firepool Weir where it was growing on waste ground close to the Hedgerow Crane’s-bill; and a second very early record for Wood Melick, this one by Anne from nr Rodney Stoke on the 25th.

We have also had records this week for Wild Strawberry, Fragaria vesca, while three more records for Wood Spurge, Euphorbia amygdaloides, and five for Bluebell, Hyacinthoides non-scripta, provide ample evidence – along with the Woodruff and Wood-sedge already mentioned – that spring is galloping along in our woods.

The strangest find of the week for me, though, was on the 29th when I stumbled upon a young tree of Bird Cherry, Prunus padus, growing nr the river Tone in Taunton, in a strip of rough secondary woodland behind ‘Go Outdoors’. I was flabbergasted. And it was blooming nicely too! I was absolutely convinced this would be a new monad, and maybe even a new tetrad or hectad. No such luck; a quick look on the BSBI database showed that it had already been recorded, at that very spot, in 2019. What? I couldn’t believe it! Who could possibly have recorded it there? On my patch!

And then I looked again and saw, to my amazement, that the recorder’s name matched my own…