RXwildlife Sightings

Its that time of year when any surviving stinking hawksbeard plants, Crepis foetida, pass the rubicon. Once the flowering stems start to grow they are no longer vulnerable to slug attack and grazing by other invertebrates that ravage the plants in March/April. This leaves rabbit grazing and drought as the remaining hurdles to be dealt with. This particular specimen, with characteristic nodding buds, is the most forward of the Northiam plants, growing in a rather unusual setting for a Red Data Book plant.

For some time now I have been predicting a poor season for this plant in the village, with early rosette counts producing only 58 plants. No doubt there will be more on my neighbours lawns, but numbers are going to be well down on the 900-1200 plants recorded in the past two years. There appears to have been something approaching 80% mortality of the seedlings this winter, but before that very few plants actually germinated in the first place during last summer - a symptom of the wet conditions?

It will be interesting to see how Rye compares at the start of next month. Numbers here seem to be higher - is this site poised to take over as having the largest UK population?

Posted in Plants | by Brian Banks