B&BC Botanical Society Newsletter - Issue 3 (2016)

Newsletter Issue 3 | 2016
2016 was certainly an action-

packed year for the Society
…so we thought we would put together
another issue of the newsletter, with this
year’s highlights.
We hope you enjoy reading through it

and join us next year for more recording!
In this Issue:
Sutton Park Flora
- The second season of recording
Plus other highlights from 2016 including

site visit reports from:
Wren’s Nest & Mons Hill | Fens Pools

And reports of surprise species finds in B&BC including:
Yellow Strawberry | Ladder-brake Fern
Lesser Skullcap (Scutellaria minor)
Sutton Park September 2015 Perfoliate Alexanders | Yellow Bird’s-nest
SAVE THE DATE!

The 2017 AGM will take place on Other dates for your diary:
Saturday 4th March 2017 Provisional Field Recording Dates 2017
at 11am 12/04/2017 - Wrens Nest
Winterbourne House and Garden, 2 visits (dates TBC) – Sutton Park
June (date TBC) – Illey area
University of Birmingham, Mid July (date TBC) – Fens Pools
58 Edgbaston Park Road,
Birmingham, B15 2RT.
Note: entrance to Winterbourne Garden
will be free for this event!
Hope to see you there!
2 │ B&BC Botanical Society Newsletter 2016
One to Look Out For: Winterborne Gardens

Yellow Strawberry 2016 AGM
Potentilla indica
March 2016
This year we held our AGM at Winterbourne Botanical
Gardens in Edgbaston. A walk around the gardens followed.
From the external wall of the heated orchid house three small
ferns were tentatively identified as Ladder-brake fern Pteris
vittata.
Photographs were taken by several of the group and Paul

Reade collected a sample which he sent to Dr Fred Rumsey at
the Natural History Museum in London. He confirmed the
identification and in his reply he informed us that this was only
the fourth extant site for Ladder-brake fern in Britain. The
other three being in similar habitats at Oxford Botanical
Gardens, Chelsea Physic Garden and at Kew by the lake. This
January 2016 was a new record for VC 38 Warwickshire.
Gillian Barnard and Ann Farr were out enjoying an early

January walk along the Tame Valley Canal in Great Barr
when they noticed a small, yellow-flowered plant with
bright-red fruit growing in a short section of canal Ladder-brake fern
Pteris vittata
towpath in the deep cutting almost immediately below
growing from the
Scott Bridge, Newton Road. external wall of the
heated orchid house
The plants were identified as Yellow Strawberry - March 2016
Potentilla indica, and there were several dozen in both
flower and fruit mixed in with Creeping Buttercup and The small, circular pool at the side of the path near the sunken
Hart’s-tongue Asplenium scolopendrium. garden provided this interesting photograph of two invasive
alien aquatics Water Fern Azolla filiculoides and Least
Some of the plants were in the strip of grassland between Duckweed Lemna minuta which were completely obscuring
the path and the canal and others in the mortar of the the water surface.
canal brickwork trailing down almost to the surface of the
water. There are very few sites for Yellow Strawberry in
Birmingham and the Black Country and this is the first we
have from the canal environment.
Two questions are raised here: are there any more

Yellow Strawberry sites along our canal network that
have so far gone unnoticed, and can anyone shed light on
why flowering should take place at such an unseasonable
Daniel Cartwright of Winterbourne Gardens has written a nice
time of the year?
blog piece about the day here:
https://diggingfordirt.wordpress.com/2016/09/14/where-the-wild-
things-are/
Perfoliate Alexanders
Smyrnium perfoliatum
May 2017
In early May Mick Scarrott sent us a record
of a small colony of Perfoliate Alexanders
Smyrnium perfoliatum, growing in a patch of
rough ground behind railings along the
approach to Clayton Playing Fields at the
southern end of Gough Road in Coseley.
His discovery turned out to be not only a

new plant for Birmingham and the Black
Country but was also confirmed by John
Hawksford as being a new record for VC39
Staffordshire. Our congratulations go out to
Mick!
DUDLEY NIGHTSHADE September 2016

Towards the end of the summer Mike Poulton
came upon a small colony of Deadly Nightshade
Atropa bella-donna plants, in both flower and
fruit growing behind the railings of the
abandoned Firs Street Community Garden, and
along the pavement nearby in Firs Street, Dudley.
This is yet another Dudley site for this relatively

scarce Birmingham and Black Country plant with
highly-poisonous fruit.
Deadly Nightshade Atropa bella-donna

growing at the base of a wall near the
abandoned Firs Street Community
Garden, Firs Street, Dudley
th
29 August 2016
WRENS NEST AND MONS HILL

July 2016
In early July during a break from recording at Sutton Park, some of us decided to explore the limestone flora of Wren’s Nest
National Nature Reserve. We met up outside the Park Inn in George Street, Woodsetton and approached the site from the
Mons Hill direction. A steep climb up a winding woodland path brought us out onto the main track across Mons Hill where we
soon made our first significant finds of the day.
In a wide clearing along the path were hundreds of Common Spotted-orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsia, many of them still in full
flower, covering a sloping bank and creating a dazzling display. The surface layer of soil here was removed several years ago
and the population of orchids has increased steadily since then.
Common Spotted-orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsii

Mons Hill
Nearby, a small colony of Common Gromwell Milkwort Polygala vulgaris, the last one of these although
Lithospermum officinale was flowering in the half shade of relatively common here, is virtually absent from the rest of
the woodland at the top of a bank. This inconspicuous, pale- Birmingham and the Black Country.
green flowered plant, although relatively frequent
throughout Britain, has a very restricted range in Our circular walk around Wrens Nest took us up the ‘99 steps’
Birmingham and the Black Country and so far as only been to Murchison’s Viewpoint with its wonderful view of Dudley
found on Mons Hill and Wrens Nest. Castle and the Rowley Hills and along to the viewing platform
near the now filled-in Seven Sisters Caves where another
colony of Common Gromwell was detected.
Common Gromwell Lithospermum officinale
Crossing Wrens Nest Road from Mons Hill into the Wrens
Nest site we headed for the old quarry near the Ripple
Beds.
Our final stop before leaving the site was from the top of the
The quarry slopes are home to some of Birmingham and the old quarry that we had explored earlier. We headed back to
Black Country’s scarcest plants and it took us very little time the cars but for a few of us in the party the temptation to
to locate Bee Orchid Ophrys apifera, Hoary Plantain sample half a pint of real ale at the Park Inn was too much to
Plantago media, Small Scabious Scabiosa columbaria and resist.
Common Mike Poulton
FENS POOLS
July 2016 – Yellow Bird’s Nest
Mark Williams, Senior Warden at Fens Pools was quite
excited to report that a colony of Yellow Bird’s-nest
Hypopitys monotropa had recently been found at the site.
Des Dando and Brian Marsh had made the initial discovery
of plants growing on and around old spoil heaps of railway
ballast and brick rubble at the side of the old railway track
on the plateau above the ridge and furrow field. Brian
Yellow Bird’s-nest habitat, Fens Pools
Cochrane confirmed the record.
November 2016 – Girdled Knight

Following on from the summer discovery of Yellow
Bird’s-nest at Fens Pools, Paul Reade and Mike Poulton
visited the site in late November to search for
toadstools of Girdled Knight Tricholoma cingulatum,
which is known to produce fruiting bodies in late
autumn and early winter.
Yellow Bird’s-nest Monotropa hypopytis - Fens Pools
Over the following weeks more plants were found over a

wider area, notably, always within a few feet of Goat Willow
Salix caprea.
Research on the internet suggests that there is erroneous

popular conception that this plant is a saprophyte feeding on
decaying organic matter. Evidence now implies that the
relationship of Salix caprea and Hypopitys monotropa is
sustained by the transfer of carbon through a shared
mycorrhizal mycelium, in this case most likely the fungus
Tricholoma cingulatum Girdled Knight. For those interested
in reading about this research, go to -
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-
8137.2004.01115.x/full
Footnote: Towards the end of the summer, yet another Yellow

Bird’s-nest site, this time in Wolverhampton, was reported to us by
Paul Wilkinson. No further details are available at present
Girdled Knight Tricholoma cingulatum
Small groups of the fungi were soon located close to mature Goat Willow in the area where Yellow Bird’s-nest had
been found earlier in the year. More of the toadstools were found at the bottom of a steep bank further to the north,
and yet more were located at the base of Goat Willow bushes in woodland on the east side of the track.
The discovery of Tricholoma cingulatum toadstools in these other areas suggests that Yellow Bird’s-nest might possibly
be more widespread at Fens Pools and further searches at the appropriate time are being arranged for next summer.
Whilst searching the site several hundred Sowbread Cyclamen hederifolia plants were discovered in one spot, some
still producing flowers.
This is possibly the largest colony of cyclamen found so far in our area. And even more impressive was the discovery of
over 50 plants of Royal Fern Osmunda regalis growing in shady, moist woodland between the old track bed and the
back gardens of houses along Stourbridge Road.
Royal Fern Osmunda regalis
The trunk-like bases of some of the plants were enormous suggesting that this colony has gone unnoticed here for
many years.
Mike Poulton
SUTTON PARK FLORA

2016 - The second season of recording forests were bounded by natural features: Sutton Chase by Barr
Beacon in the west, the Bourne Brook in the north and the
River Tame in the south and east.
1. Wednesday 23rd March 2016 – Archaeology Walk
Deer parks were enclosures which mainly enclosed fallow deer
For our first outing on 2016, Mike Hodder joined 14 of us at for hunting and as a luxury food item (venison could not be
Boldmere Gate to introduce us to the history of the woods in legally bought) and were bounded by man-made barriers,
the south east of the Park. usually a bank and a ditch, the ditch on the inside to contain
the deer.
The map close to Boldmere Gate illustrates the typical circular

shape of a deer park on the north and west sides of the park –
there have been subsequent enclosures on the east side.
The outer boundary of the deer park was a ditch with a bank
surmounted by a paling fence. The hunt would have taken
place by herding the deer towards hidden archers. The park
was also divided by further banks, used in herding the deer.
Where excavations of the Sutton Park banks have taken place
no post holes have been found, suggesting the use of dead
Mike, explaining, E side of Holly Hurst
hedges on the banks. The existence in the park of a system of
stream valleys was also used in funnelling the deer towards the
The predominant geology of Sutton Park is Bunter Pebble Beds archers. Sutton Park is unusual in that practically the whole
– sandstone with layers of pebbles - which generate poor soils medieval system of these banks persists, not just fragments as
of the podsol type. The podsols here are typically very shallow is usually the case elsewhere. It should also be noted that
some of the main paths in the park were to allow the beaters to
as can often be seen along the paths. As a result of this
radiate outwards and are not through-roads but terminate at
poverty, the area was probably set aside for rough grazing
the periphery.
together with hunting as far back as Roman times.
In the 1528 a profound change occurred when John Vesey,
The royal Cannock Forest was probably created soon after the
Bishop of Exeter, obtained a charter from Henry VIII creating a
Norman Conquest and extended from Stafford in the north to Sutton Coldfield governing body which replaced the lords of the
the River Tame in the south and east. Although they did contain manor and changed the use of the pasture to grazing by
woodland, the forests also contained grassland, arable and domesticated stock and the woodlands to coppice, which
human settlements and were tracts of land where the king had required the construction of new banks to exclude stock from
sole rights for hunting deer and boar. Later, Cannock Chase and the woodland recovering after coppicing. These banks had
their ditches on the side facing out of the woodland.
Sutton Chase were taken out of Cannock Forest, Sutton Chase
for the use of the Earl of Warwick in 1126. The chases, like the
In the 18th century the medieval fish ponds which had been
constructed on some of the park streams were supplemented
by mill pools and in the 19th century features associated with
ones are deeper, for two sawyers, one of them standing in the
pit).
At SP10859597 there are mounds of rubble where Holly Hurst

Cottage – a 19th century tea room – once stood. We noted a
limited ruderal flora. Emerging from woodland at SP10959603
we noted Carex binervis and were able to see the dam of
Wyndley Pool, beyond which, on higher ground, the Manor
House once stood, well separated from the current Sutton
town. At this point we were also able to discern the hollowed-
out green track parallel with the current metalled track. This is
Bank and ditch, Holly Hurst
a remnant of the main route from the Manor House into Sutton
Park and is traceable through Holly Hurst and continued all the
way to Streetly Gate.
We entered Holly Hurst at circa SP10679575 where both
medieval and (in one place at right angles) 16th century banks Here along the eastern side of Holly Hurst the holly has been
coincide. Holly was deliberately maintained and cut and fed to cut and removed by hand and no disturbance of the substrate
deer in winter. In the winter 2015-15 much of the holly in this has occurred. The bank here is the winding 16th century wood
area of Holly Hurst was coppiced using a mechanical harvester bank with its ditch on the non-woodland side, although there is
which stripped the brash which was chipped and loaded the also an earlier bank here with its ditch on the woodland side.
stems on to transporters destined for use as biomass fuel in
electricity generation. This work was accomplished by At SP10889650, at what is the end of Keeper’s Valley, there is a
contractors at no financial cost to Birmingham City. Most of large, well-marked level platform on the southern flank which
Sutton Park (including Holly Hurst) is a scheduled ancient was the hunting stand from which the archers shot at the deer.
monument, and all known features in the extraction area were Keeper’s Pool is a medieval fish pond, but it can easily be seen
(narrowly) fenced off, although the internal path which ended that the path here, heading north into Lower Nut Hurst and
at SP10679577 has been eroded as a new access point. Also south across Holly Hurst is earlier and does not follow the line
the profiles of some of the paths and tracks have been altered of the (later) dam. By the dam, the pyramidal marker with
and it is also very obvious that the previously largely archaeological information is part of a scheme of ten markers
undisturbed soils of Holly Hurst have been generally disturbed and three information panels set up around the park in 2003.
by the extraction. We discussed the outcome of the holly
At SP10649691 we saw a bank with its ditch on the wood side
cutting. Probably there would be a development of bramble
which is a subdivision of the medieval deer park now well into
before the holly regrows, and possibly birch regeneration from
Lower Nut Hurst and implied that the wooded area
seed.
subsequently expanded here. We eventually reached Blackroot
Pool, which is an 18th century watermill pool. We then
climbed the steep Blackroot Glade which separates and gives
access to both Upper and Lower Nut Hurst, a track created
probably in the 16th century but might be older and crossing
the later-created Blackroot Pool. At a high point (SP10149721)
an earlier bank is clearly cut through by the 16th century
boundary of Lower Nut Hurst. From here we followed the 16th
century woodland boundary south which runs along the south
west side of Darnel Hurst and Upper and Lower Nut Hursts. 50
Results of the forestry operation in Holly Hurst metres west of this margin is a late medieval (15th century)
deer park boundary running parallel with the later ones. At
SP10249693, a narrow bank striking west across the path is
We were shown a raised and levelled platform 7 or 8 m across
interpreted as a ‘pillow mound’ – a protected rabbit warren
at SP10749579 which was located as part of the investigation
construction used when rabbits were being introduced from
before the holly cutting and has been interpreted as a probable
the continent and were less hardy than they are now and
charcoal burning platform – the first identified in the Park. At
needed protection. From here the path re-enters Keeper’s
SP10719587 we were shown a smaller oval pit (8m x 5m) with a
Valley.
surrounding bank which is a 16th-17th century saw pit (later
In this area we observed the complexity of the medieval bank Mike P. noted Hoof Fungus Fomes fomentarius on a dead or
system and its divisions, together with the 16th century banks, dying birch tree. Further on, there were some good patches of
with three banks in close parallel at SP10359651, converging Hyacinthoides non-scripta Blubell, rather overwhelmed by
into a single bank with ditches both sides. Along Wyndley Glade Rubus fruticosus agg. brambles. There was at least one
at SP10519605 we observed a group of trees at the alleged example of a fairly large Picea abies Norway Spruce apparently
centre of England, within a 12 m, possibly medieval, rectangular self-set from a nearby planted tree.
enclosure. We saw another saw pit at SP10549601. There are
now thought to be 90 in the park, concentrated in Pool Hollies
and with only two in the 18th century plantation Westwood
Coppice, suggesting that their use was dying out by then.
From here we made our way back to Boldmere Gate car park,
feeling we had started to get to grips with the history of the
Park. Many thanks are due to Mike, whose book The
Archaeology of Sutton Park tells the full story. Mike has
promised another history ramble later in the season.
Hoof Fungus Fomes fomentarius - on dying birch
We soon found the wet woodland, with much Ilex aquifolium

Holly and ditches with much Agrostis canina Velvet Bent in its
margins, and spent a happy morning stumbling across streams
and ditches in what was essentially Alnus glutinosa Alder
The heathland in late winter woodland.
2. Thursday 7th April 2016
On a rather wet day nine of us – including some welcome new

‘recruits’ – again set out from Boldmere Gate, this time with
the intention of exploring the wet woodland between Powell’s
Pool and Wyndley Pool. This wet area is visible across the road
from the Powell’s Pool dam but here it is fenced off from the
road with no obvious entrance. We therefore crossed the road
from the car park into SP1095 SE and then crossed the mown
grassland paddock (admiring the enormous paintings of
hedgehog and other animals on the buildings), before The group negotiating wet woodland
proceeding east through dry mixed woodland.
Although the Holly could not penetrate the wet areas, the field
layer was not rich, with much bare ground and bryophytes (not
much Bog moss Sphagnum; mostly the upright Mnium hornum
Swan’s-neck Thyme-moss and the thallose liverwort Pellia, the
latter covered in its dehiscent capsules), also rather more
Hedera helix Ivy that we are used to seeing in Sutton Park.
Several of us found out the hard way that there is at least a

knee-depth of peat in places here, and we retreated
northwards into the drier SP1095NE for lunch, noting a tree
stump covered in the fungus Fomes (Coriolus) versicolor Turkey
Tail. Having penetrated the Holly barrier at the edge of the
wetland, we found dry heathland where recent tree-felling had
taken place to keep the vegetation open. We recorded the
usual species, including Danthonia decumbens Heath-grass,
Festuca filiformis Fine-leaved Sheep’s-fescue, and Dryopteris
carthusiana Narrow Buckler-fern. We also saw mixed stands of
Ulex europaeus Common Gorse (in full flower) and Ulex gallii
Western Gorse (in fruit) and noted that it would be a good
place to look for the hybrid, when it flowers around Christmas.
Thallose liverwort Pellia – growing through a pleurocarpous moss
Siskin, Chiffchaff, Buzzard and Tawny Owl were all heard or
seen while we were having lunch here.
Nevertheless there is an appreciable old woodland flora thinly
present, with such plants as Caltha palustris Marsh-marigold, After lunch we (rather reluctantly) pushed east through the
Chrysosplenium oppositifolium Opposite-leaved Golden- Holly into SP1195 NW to look at the wet woodland around
saxifrage and (once) Anemone nemorosa Wood Anemone as Wyndley Pool. Jane T. alerted us to Song Thrush singing. As we
well as, much more abundantly, Dryopteris dilatata Broad approached the pool, the ditches and streams became deeper
Buckler-fern, Carex pendula Pendulous Sedge and Deschampsia and were often impassable, but we struggled through to the
cespitosa Tufted Hair-grass. open water margin, seeing rather more Sphagnum but less old
woodland species than in SP1095 SE but still some Himalayan
We found some low patches of Viburnum opulus Guelder Rose
Balsam. We think we found the Prunus padus Bird Cherry at
similar to those occurring north of Blackroot Pool, also quite a
one of its few semi-natural sites in B&BC again, although we
lot of Ribes rubrum Red Currant but generally the shrub layer
will have to grow some bits on to be sure. We noted two
was not rich. We were also saddened to see quite a few large
neophytes Rhododendron ponticum Rhododendron and Prunus
patches of Impatiens glandulifera Himalayan/Indian Balsam
laurocerasus Cherry Laurel are present here, although not
seedlings. In places it has got a bit of a hold and it would take
abundant.
quite a large group of pretty waterproof volunteers to control
it. There were fruiting bodies of Daldinia concentrica Cramp
Balls fungus on decaying wood and Chiffchaff and Willow
Warbler were heard singing.
Group emerging from woodland near Wyndley Pool
Eventually, we struggled out of the wood at the western end of

the Wyndley Pool dam (much to the surprise of the families
entering the Park here), and found quite a good haul of annuals
around the entrance gate, including Cerastium semidecandrum
Little Mouse-ear and Veronica agrestis Green Field-speedwell.
Opposite-leaved Golden-saxifrage Chrysosplenium oppositifolium The dam-side vegetation was somewhat over-grazed by Canada
Geese, but we did note some Greylag Geese (and one
Greylag/Canada Goose hybrid) in the pool before we returned
to the Boldmere car park along the main track.
3. Saturday 16th April 2016
After waking up to a layer of snow, we were relieved to have a

dry and quite mild day, although it was very muddy along the
tracks. Seven of us (later joined by Mike Poulton) crossed the
railway line east of Streetly Gate, mainly in order to get some
records for SP0998NE, for which we had none.
We followed the Roman Road north and then the northern

boundary east through SP0898NE and SP0998NW, where we
added a few species to our August 2015 records. This is mostly
Birch woodland with trees still devoid of their leaves
the edge of the dry heath north of Little Bracebridge Pool
together with more wooded areas in the periphery of the Park.
We only added 14 species for this square and must return later
in the season. One interesting record was for Rubus laciniatus,
one of the very few easily identified Rubus subgenus Rubus
brambles on account of its distinctive dissected leaves. This is a
garden escape; we wondered if it was a first for the Park, but
we had also recorded it in SP1097 in 2005 AND last year in the
neighbouring SP0998NW. It could be increasing in the Park.
This specimen had swellings along one of the stems which
could be caused by a gall midge Lasioptera rubii. Photographs
have been sent to gall expert Peter Shirley for his opinion.
View towards Exmoor Pony corral
Here there is much Molinia caerulea Purple Moor-grass,

especially along the Roman Road, suggesting fluctuating water
table or at least water which is not stagnant, but little of the
diversity seen associated with water elsewhere in the Park. We
did add Erica tetralix Cross-leaved Heath in SP0898NE, but
mostly common species associated with the periphery of the
park, including Hyacynthoides x massartiana Hybrid Bluebell,
distinguished by its broader leaves and symmetrical
inflorescences and bell-shaped flowers from the native
Hyacinthoides non-scripta Bluebell with narrower leaves, one-
sided inflorescence and more tubular flowers (which was also
seen). SP0998NW is crossed by a ditch, possibly bringing run- Cut-leaved Bramble Rubus laciniatus with stem gall
off water from the B4151 into the Park, where we recorded
Primula vulgaris Primrose and Scrophularia auriculata Water Just out of the woodland, into the heath we noted Cladonia
Figwort, noting its crenate rather than the serrate leaf margins portentosa (Cladonia impexa), sometimes called Reindeer
of Common Figwort S. nodosa, but perhaps it should be Lichen, near a group of young Scots Pines. Peter James, the
checked later when in flower. lichenologist, had pointed out to Ian how rare the Cladonias
had become in the Park, possibly as a result of the air becoming
We entered SP0998NE close to the border fence and later less acid with the reduction in sulphur dioxide as coal-burning
(after a brief excursion into SP1098NW where we noticed a power stations had been cleaned up or closed.
tree Cotoneaster close to the entrance gate which we must
check later in the season) we followed a major track going
south west. Unfortunately it is one of those quite heavily
wooded parts of the Park with little in the way of a field layer.
In SP0889NW we had earlier seen a Muntjac Deer and on our

way back Richard Orton noticed the song of the Wood Lark.
4. Tuesday 26th April 2016
Nine of us assembled at the Aircraft Modellers’ car park near

Boldmere Gate. We admired the little collection of winter
annuals in the car park verges, including Small Cudweed Filago
minima and we added Little Mouse-ear Cerastium
semidecandrum to the list.
Reindeer Lichen Cladonia portentosa
On the way back we followed the same ditch we earlier crossed

in SP0998NW and obtained some more records such as
Heracleum sphondylium Hogweed and Geranium robertianum
Herb-Robert, suggesting more eutrophic conditions. In the
ditch bank we also noted a Violet in late flower, with an
ungrooved dark spur and very short (< 1mm) sepal appendages,
which could only be Viola reichenbachiana Early Dog-violet, a
Group search for ephemerals on roadside bank near car park
first for the Park.
Early Dog-violet Viola reichenbachiana
Later we found Viola riviniana Common Dog-violet in early

flower further up the ditch, and the pale spur and much longer
Little Mouse-ear Cerastium semidecandrum
sepal appendages were evident even although the only flower
was not fully open.
Then we headed north along the track towards the Jamboree
Memorial, recording little of note. Eventually we entered
SP0996NE and later, beyond the memorial SP0997SE and,
briefly, SP0997SW.
This area is in the eastern fringe of the main dry heathland area
of the Park. In fact there is more acid grassland than heath and
neither are particularly species-rich, although probably
important for invertebrates, birds and mammals. The
heathland patches were dominated by Calluna vulgaris
Ian recording near site of Viola reichenbachiana
Heather, with Ulex gallii Western Gorse. (also much Ulex
europaeus Common Gorse).
The grasses included much Agrostis capillaris Common Bent, After a brisk walk along the eastern margin of Westwood
Deschampsia flexuosa Wavy Hairgrass and Festuca filiformis Coppice, we took another brief look at the scrape in SP0896SE
Fine-leaved Sheep’s Fescue, with occasional Molinia caerulea where the sewage spill occurred and were able to confirm the
Purple Moorgrass, Nardus stricta Matgrass and Danthonia presence of both Ranunculus hederaceus Ivy-leaved Crowfoot
decumbens Heathgrass. We recorded Luzula campestris Field and Ranunculus omiophyllus Round-leaved Crowfoot there, the
Wood-rush but not Luzula multiflora Heath Wood-rush. former with flowers that are only 4-8mm whilst the latter has
Perhaps we were too early to spot this without flowers to help. larger flowers that are 10-12mm and has down-turned sepals
There were also scattered patches of Pteridium aquilinum shorter than the petals. In this area we also heard a cuckoo.
Bracken.
Group examine the vegetation along the ditch near sewage scrape
Extensive area of acid grassland near Jamboree Memorial
From there we proceeded into SP0896SW, where we followed
There are areas of scrub – mainly Betula spp Birch.and Quercus the line of the Roman Road in the western fringe of the
robur Pedunculate Oak, even the odd Q. petraea Sessile Oak, Longmoor Valley heathland and returned through the warden’s
plus the ubiquitous Ilex aquifolium Holly. In the flanks of one of belt woodland adjacent to the boundary fence.
these in SP0997SE a single patch of Carex binervis Green-ribbed
Sedge suggested at least some dampness. There are also
several small plantations, with Pinus sylvestris Scots Pine and P.
nigra Austrian Pine, Larix decidua Larch and a little Picea
sitchensis Sitka Spruce and P. abies Common Spruce.
There were clusters of mostly ruderal species, particularly along

the tracks, of which the most interesting were Plantago
coronopus Buck’s-horn Plantain and Erophila verna sensu stricto
Common Whitlowgrass.
The line of the Roman Road in the w. fringe of Longmoor Valley
5. Monday 9th May 2016 This square is not particularly rich, although after careful
quartering we obtained a modest haul of heath and acid
Eight of us set out from Banner’s Gate car park to visit some of grassland species and an even more modest haul of
the western fringe of the Park north of Westwood Coppice.
woodland species, including Hyacinthoides non-scripta
Bluebell in flower. There is an extensive stand of birch on
the woodland margin, all of which seemed to be
intermediate in character between Betula pendula Silver
Birch and Betula pubescens Downy Birch and we
concluded that they could best be referred to the hybrid
between them, Betula x aurata. The sheltered margins of
the woodland were quite rich in butterflies and we noted
Mature Beech trees in Westwood Coppice Brimstone, Orange Tip, Peacock, Small Copper and
Tortoiseshell. The Orange-tip butterflies were showing Spiraea Bridewort and a small plantation of an Ulmus Elm
considerable interest in some nearby patches of Alliaria species, both of which we felt too difficult to identify this early
petiolata Garlic Mustard and on closer inspection of the flower in the year.
heads, several of their greenish to orange-coloured eggs were
found on the petioles. The eggs of Orange-tip are laid singly on Also present was that ancient denizen of cottage gardens
separate plants and the resulting caterpillars feed on the Chelidonium majus Greater Celendine and quite an extent of a
developing fruit. curiously small-leaved Hedera helix Ivy which might be a garden
cultivar. Overgrown by Betula spp. birch, Acer pseudoplatanus
Sycamore, planted Larix decidua Larch and Pinus sylvestris
Scots Pine there is the usual Sutton Park lack of field layer
species, compounded by extensive drifts of mud and silt which
had clearly been transported from the nearby roads.
6. Friday 20th May 2016
Eight of us set off from Four Oaks Gate in SP1098NE, mainly to

walk the motor road in the eastern periphery of the Park to see
Orange-tip egg on developing fruit of Garlic Mustard what plants are getting in from neighbouring gardens etc. This
was rather hazardous because of the cars, but a great deal of
The tracks cross one of the ditches which are tributaries of the singing out ‘cars!’ as we went and the general good behaviour
Longmoor stream and we recorded Cochlearia danica Danish of the drivers kept us safe.
Scurvygrass, presumably a record of its contamination by
Around the car park we noted that the small clump of Iris
roadside drainage.
foetidissima Stinking Iris which we recorded there last year is
We then entered SP0896NW, which proved to be a similar strip still present, also a lot of Hyacyinthoides x massartiana hybrid
of heath, acid grassland and woodland to that in SP0896SW Bluebell, some Pentaglottis sempervivum Green Alkanet and a
with a similar flora. solitary flowering plant of the dark-flowered Geranium phaeum
Dusky Crane’s-bill. Down the track there were few
introductions, except the odd Rhododendron ponticum
Rhododendron, and some Ribes uva-crispa Gooseberry. Ribes
rubrum Red Currant, also seen, can be an introduction or an old
woodland species. The margins of the track were often lined
with stands of Circaea lutetiana Enchanter’s Nightshade, which,
like Red Currant, is both an old woodland native and a weed of
cultivation. Circaea pops up all along this road as far as
Blackroot Pool and beyond. Many of the mature oaks in this
and in the next square appeared to be Quercus robur x petraea.
We soon arrived in SP1098SE. In the eastern margin of the

road we saw several garden escapes: Ribes sanguineum
Flowering Currant, Polygonatum x hybridum Garden Solomon’s-
Heath Woodrush Luzula multiflora ssp. congesta seal, distinguished from the native P. multiflorum by its ridged
or angled stems and larger (15+ mm long) flowers, Tanacetum
Probably the most interesting area was the site of an old parthenium Feverfew, and Alchemilla mollis Soft Lady’s-mantle,
building which used to stand in the Park close to the distinguished from the native of damp grassland and mires A.
A452/A4041/B4138 roundabout. Long since demolished, vestita by its larger size, larger number of leaf lobes (typically 9-
practically nothing remains except a few horticultural plant 11) and by the epicalyx segments between the four sepals
species, notably Symphoricarpos albus Snowberry, a single tall being as long as the sepals. Primula vulgaris Primrose was
Populus nigra ‘Italica’ Lombardy Poplar, plus a stand of a present, also probably as an escape, and Aquilegia vulgaris
Columbine.
Surveying old quarry at SP10699825
Further down the road at least one of the apple trees in the
wood margin had the characteristic small parts and hairlessness
Garden Solomon’s-seal Polygonatum x hybridum of the native crab Malus sylvestris, however, there was also a
large patch of the garden escape Malus pumila and invasive
Also on the eastern side of the road in short turf we noted Lamiastrum galeobdolon subsp. argentatum Garden Yellow
Dandelions with the deeply pinnately divided leaves and small Archangel.
heads, suggesting the uncommon native small dandelions
Taraxacum section Erythrosperma.
Garden Yellow Archangel L. galeobdolon subsp. argentatum
We followed the road into SP1097NE, where we hoped to find

the well-established patch of Persicaria campanulata Lesser
Knotweed which we recorded in the Flora at SP108974 and was
first recorded in the 1930s, but time pressed and we had to
Taraxacum section Erythrosperma.
return before we got that far. We returned across the edge of
the Gum Slade woodlands. The highlight there was a huge
On the western side of the road there were a few steep,
patch of Ranunculus omiophyllus Round-leaved Water-
quite well-lit banks with something of a heathland flora,
crowfoot in a muddy depression by the path at SP10419848
including Calluna vulgaris Heather, Deschampsia flexuosa with Juncus bulbosus Bulbous Rush and Callitriche stagnalis
Wavy Hair-grass, Carex pilulifera Pill Sedge and another Common Water-starwort.
similar Carex which will need checking later. Ranger
Matthew Barker showed us the way into an old quarry at
SP10699825 – rather dark and bare but a good range of
rushes Juncus spp. In the wood we noted scattered
Molinia caerulea Purple Moor-grass and one plant of
Vaccinium myrtillus Bilberry.
Bog Woodland
was also lesser amounts of E. angustifolium Common

Cottongrass, Molinia caerulea Purple Moor-grass, some of the
(as usual) non-flowering stolons of Agrostis canina Velvet Bent
and some Erica tetralix Cross-leaved Heath, but only a very
limited amount of sedges – almost entirely Carex nigra Common
Sedge with its flowers with two stigmas.
Group examining Round-leaved Water-crowfoot

Ranunculus omiophyllus at SP10419848
Round-leaved Water-crowfoot Ranunculus omiophyllus

Common Sedge Carex nigra
This water-crowfoot is clearly more frequent in Sutton We did find one small patch of Carex echinata Star Sedge. This is
Park than we thought! a member of the subgenus Vignea of genus Carex. In subgenus
Vignea the spikes are mixtures of male and female flowers,
there are no terminal spikes of male flowers and lateral spikes of
7. Wednesday 1st June 2016 female flowers as in subgenus Carex, and the female flowers
always have only two stigmas (mostly three in subgenus Carex
Six of us set off from Banners Gate car park, intending to except for Carex nigra and its close relatives.). In Star Sedge the
concentrate on SP0896NE, for which we had only 20 records. spikes consist of star-like clusters of (mostly) sharply-beaked
We largely resisted the temptation to linger around the scrape in female flowers. The terminal spike is female above and male
SP0896SE, noting only that the various Persicaria species were below.
not yet very evident in the still fairly extensive pools, and also
noting considerable amounts of Cytisus scoparius Broom in
various colours and colour combinations along the track,
suggesting some misguided person scattering seed of cultivars.
We entered SP0896NE and soon crossed a major track coming
from an entrance at circa SP083965 and heading towards the
Jamboree Memorial and Blackroot Pool. Here we had dry heath
and (mainly) heathy grassland with the usual range of species
but north of the track we also noted Cottongrass heads in the
distance and discovered an extensive area of mire in which the
Inflorescence of
characteristic species were Eriophorum vaginatum Hare’s-tail
Carex echinata
Cottongrass and various Sphagnum species Bog mosses. There Star Sedge
The area is quite extensive – several hectares – and the range

of species suggests that this mire is on the acid end of the mire
spectrum in the park. There is however quite a lot of scrub
development. The rangers have clearly been active and much
has been felled but there is (as in many other places) much
more to do.
We pressed north through the mire and eventually struck the

first major ditch. This was a good 1.5 metres deep and quite
impassable to us mainly elderly adventurers. Set about mainly
with Silver and Downy Birch and Salix cinerea Grey Willow it
carries an entirely different flora to the mire. Urtica dioica
Nettle, Galium aparine Cleavers and Geum urbanum Wood
Avens all suggested that the ditch water is considerably more Eared Willow Salix aurita (not Sutton Park)
fertile than the waters of the mires which surround it. We
reflected that all this water has to travel down the Longmoor
Valley through the precious nutrient-poor mires further down.
The ditch is however not entirely without interest: We noted a
non-flowering tall herb with leaves in whorls of three or four
which Poland suggested must be a Lysimachia Yellow
Loosestrife species, but, with large, broad, long-stalked leaves
not either the native Lysimachia vulgaris Yellow Loosestrife nor
the neophyte Dotted Loosestrife L. punctata. We must look
again: the grid reference is SP085967.
We thrashed about along this ditch in a roughly easterly

Soft Shield-fern Polystichum setiferum
direction without seeing much of interest under a pretty dense
tree canopy. Eventually we re-emerged into dry heathland
further down the track towards the Jamboree Memorial, had
lunch and headed back west to the Roman Road, where the
ditch is bridged. Further north beyond, the Cottongrass mire
re-establishes itself with much the same range of species. We
were pleased to note that one of the more shrub-like willows
had the small, most orbicular leaves with a little twisted point
and a heavily wrinkled (= rugose) upper surface which together
identify it as Salix aurita Eared Willow, a denizen of wet
heathland and not common even in Sutton Park. We did
examine the other side of the main ditch and noted on the
excavated bank many ferns, including much Phyllitis
scolopendrium Hart’s-tongue, Athyrium filix-femina Lady-fern
and most interesting of all, a new record for the Park
Polysichum setiferum Soft Shield-fern at SP08539679. This has
large, handsome twice-pinnate fronds in large shuttle-cocks. Soft Shield-fern – close-up of pinnules
The pinnules at the base of each pinna have an enlarged,
thumb-like tooth at the base on the apical edge. The frond We followed the mire into SP0897SE, where it becomes
midrib is rather pink in colour and the flaps (indusia) which constricted between the golf course to the north west and the
cover the many round groups of sporangia (sori) are round, like wooded complex of ditches to the SE, before returning to
a shield, and not kidney-shaped as in the Male and Buckler- Westwood Coppice along the Roman Road.
ferns of the genus Dryopteris.
8. Saturday 1st June 2016 We have a good set of records for SP0997NW, so we headed
back towards Streetly Gate to survey SP0897NE, looking on the
16 turned up on a rather wet Saturday. Our task was to fill in way for the elusive Melampyrum pratense Common Cow-
some quarter squares with few record in the edge of Sutton wheat, recorded here in the woodland margins and clearings in
Coldfield golf course, not a very exciting task and not helped by the 1980s, but not seen recently. We failed again; perhaps we
some periods of steady rain. However, our parking place at are still a little early for flowers, but we also thought that
SP093978 was right by the spot where Brian Laney recorded Pteridium aquilinum Bracken is now very abundant in these
Ophioglossum vulgatum Adder’s-tongue Fern, which was, habitats here and might have suppressed Melampyrum. There
remarkably, the first time that this plant of old grassland had is only a small part of SP0897NE outside the fairways of Sutton
ever been recorded in the Park. Coldfield golf course, and we did not feel safe to brave the golf
with such a large group, so we only got a short list of records in
the open scrub and acid grassland at the edge of the golf
course.
Adder’s-tongue Fern Ophioglossum vulgatum
Ophioglossum is a very ancient type of fern – Stace sticks the

genus, along with its pinnately-lobed relatives Botrychium the View across golf course
Moonworts, the other side of the Horsetails and Clubmosses
from the rest of the ferns, implying a very basic evolutionary Campanula rotundifolia Harebell and Veronica officinalis Heath
distinction for the group. Several of us have scoured this Speedwell were quite unusual records here, as was Luzula
particular patch where Brian recorded it in 2010 several times multiflora var. multiflora Heath Woodrush rather than the
since without success, but on this occasion we had enough more usual var. congesta. The young Oaks included some with
people to do some serious ‘advancing in a line’ to try to spot it. quite long-stalked, but somewhat auricled leaves which we
It is scarcely a conspicuous plant: the rhizome branches each recorded as the hybrid Quercus petraea x Q. robur or Q. x
produce a single, simple, broadly ovate ‘leaf’ (or ‘sterile blade’) rosacea. We also noted that there are good patches of Festuca
with an entire margin, more recognisable from its rather dull rubra Red Fescue present, distinguished from Festuca filiformis
green colour, thick texture and obscure venation than any Fine-leaved Sheep’s-fescue by its rhizomatous growth-habit, its
positive features, and typically only 3 or 4 cm long. We formed coarser bristle leaves, its flat flag leaf on the flowering stem and
two lines either side of the track and within two paces Richard its spikelets of quite long-awned florets. One distinction I have
Orton spotted it! The material was fertile: the sterile blade is always found works is to examine the junction between the leaf
lateral to a terminal fertile blade, 2 or more cm. long, which in sheath and the leaf blade on a vegetative shoot with a good
Ophioglossum is a simple spike with a row of sunken sporangia lens. In Red Fescue the sheath forms a tube; it may be split just
up either side. Eventually we found three patches, each less below the ligule but the split edges join together below, like a
than 50 cm across, all within 5 m and fitting Brian’s 8 fig. grid tube or a single-breasted coat. In both the Fine-leaved Sheep’s-
reference perfectly. We wondered whether this species was fescue and Festuca ovina Sheep’s-fescue the sheath is split all
absent from the Park in the 19th century, or whether (much the way down, and the two edges overlap, like a double-
less likely) our illustrious predecessors missed it. We also breasted coat.
wondered why we had been unable to spot it since 2010 and
thought maybe that there is only a brief period before it
becomes even less visible or before this fairly yummy patch of
grass gets grazed off.
Something of interest has brought out the cameras Stinkhorn Phalus impudicus
We also recorded the even smaller area of SP0997SW in the Beyond again was a plantation with Pinus sylvestris Scots Pine,
edge of the golf course with similar results. In SP0997NW we Pinus nigra Black Pine and Hybrid Larch Larix x marschlinsii with
did note plenty of Plantago coronopus Buck’s-horn Plantain in its characteristic turned-back cone scales, in cones which are
the edge of the road and some patches of Danthonia shorter and broader than those of Larch Larix decidua, and with
decumbens Heath-grass and further Festuca rubra Red Fescue leaves which were not glaucous above as in Japanese Larch L.
in the grassland which was cultivated during the 1939-45 war kaempferi, but did have two fairly well-marked white stripes
east of the road. beneath, which are much less noticeable in L. decidua.
Beyond again, we resisted the temptations of the ice cream van

by the Jamboree Memorial and headed back to the cars.
9. Tuesday 21st June 2016
This walk through the wetlands of the Longmoor Valley was a

repeat of the ones in 2015, but earlier in the season. Moving
north east from the Banners Gate car park we soon entered the
Heath Rush Juncus squarrosus in flower acid mires and were rewarded by large areas with fruiting
heads of Eriophorum vaginatum Hare’s-tail Cottongrass and
In the afternoon we walked across to the most southerly car Eriophorum angustifolium Common Cottongrass, both
park on this stretch of road open to cars and got some records members of the Sedge Familily Cyperaceae, the former with
for SP0997SE. In the droughty and eroded grassland around coarse, bristle-like tussocks of leaves easily mistaken for a grass
the edges of the car park was the usual Aphanes Parsley-piert, when not in flower or fruit (but no ligule) and the latter with
probably Aphanes australis but not well enough advanced into much more sedge-like leaves, with a very short, rounded ligule,
fruit to assess definitely and therefore recorded as A. arvensis winey-red below and very distinct long trigonous points.
agg., also Cerastium semidecandrum Little Mouse-ear which
seems to be around many of the Park’s heathier car parks, also
that annual version of the fescues, the long-awned Vulpia
bromoides Squirreltail Fescue. Beyond the car park were areas
of fairly closed, damp scrub with three 3 times pinnate leaved
ferns: Dryopteris carthusiana Narrow Buckler-fern and
Athyrium filix-femina Lady-fern as well as Dryopteris dilatata
Broad Buckler-fern. We also enjoyed finding there a good
stand of the fungus Stinkhorn Phallus impudicans, many being
avidly consumed by slugs.
Flora group explore the flora of the acid mire in Longmoor Valley
Drier areas had the usual range of grasses, with Deschampsia

flexuosa Wavy Hairgrass looking very handsome in full flower,
also palely prominent were the awnless many-flowered
spikelets above loose tussocks of extremely fine bristle leaves
of Festuca filiformis Fine-leaved Sheep’s-fescue and the bright
green broad ligule-less leaves of Molinia caerulea Purple Moor-
grass abundant although up to now only last year’s tall
bleached inflorescences were visible. The first of the Bents was
also in flower - the fairly compact tufts of Agrostis vinealis
Brown Bent. There was no sign of Common Bent Agrostis
capillaris flowers as yet, a plant whose habitat overlaps with
that of Brown Bent in drier heaths. Brown Bent florets usually
have a fine, bent awn (hand-lens) absent in Common Bent. The
awn is attached to the back of the single floret of the spikelet Flowers of Cranberry Vaccinium oxycoccos
and usually seen protruding from between the two glumes
which enclose the floret in each spikelet. Brown Bent has a The only sedge in all of this was Carex nigra Common Sedge,
narrower, but still flat, leaf blade than that of Common Bent here mostly producing tufts of moderately blue-green leaves at
and quite a long, but bluntly pointed ligule (very short and intervals from far-creeping rhizomes. In sedges, the leaves are
blunt in Common Bent). Brown Bent used to be placed in the arranged to spread out in three directions, unlike those of
same species as Agrostis canina Velvet Bent, which also usually grasses which arise in two directions. The inflorescence of
has the awned lemma but has a quite different habit, being Common Sedge (typically only 15-20 cm tall) looks like that of a
abundantly stoloniferous and is quite common in the Park, typical member of subgenus Carex, with 1-2 spikes of male
forming loose mats of stolons in barer, wetter places. Its ligule florets above and up to four overlapping, elongated, sessile or
is more sharply pointed and it tends to flower much less shortly stalked female spikes below. However, in the rest of
prolifically than Brown Bent. subgenus Carex, each of the spiral of female florets which
makes up a female spike has three stigmas, whilst in Common
Wetter places mostly held stands of Juncus effusus Soft Rush Sedge (and a few larger close relatives) there are only two
together with Bog Mosses Sphagnum spp. and the giant moss stigmas per floret. As in all sedges the female floret is enclosed
Polytrichum commune. As we progressed towards the lake, in the mysterious envelope called the utricle. Here the utricle is
patches of all three of the Vacciniums appeared: V. myrtillus flattened and is not drawn out into a narrow ‘beak’ from which
Bilberry, V. vitis-idaea Cowberry (already with its heads of the stigmas protrude, which is a feature of most other sedges.
white flowers) and, occasionally, scrambling mats of V. In sedges each male floret (which consist of three stamens and
oxycoccus Cranberry (also with early examples of its exquisite little else) and each female floret is sheathed in a single boat-
pink flowers). shaped bract called a ‘glume’; the glumes are typically black in
Common Sedge.
This kind of vegetation, characteristic of very base-poor mires

(pH probably circa 4.0) continued for some distance as we
moved north east, vaguely towards Longmoor Pool, but taking
care to stay north of the significant ditch which we got south of
last year and proved impossible to cross. However, as we got
within sight of the pool, the vegetation started to acquire new
species. The first to appear was Hydrocotyle vulgaris Marsh
Pennywort, with its round ‘peltate’ (shield-like, stalked from
the middle) leaves.
Flowers of Cowberry Vaccinium vitis-idaea

We were now fully into the middle zone of the mire; many of
the lime-hating species such as Cranberry had disappeared and
a whole range of new species of much more base-rich (and,
modestly, more nutrient-rich) mires appear. We recorded
Ajuga reptans Bugle, Angelica sylvestris Wild Angelica,
Comarum palustre Marsh Cinquefoil, Dactylorhiza praetermissa
Southern Marsh-orchid, Galium palustre Marsh Bedstraw,
Hypericum tetrapterum Square-stalked St. John’s-wort, Juncus
acutiflorus Sharp-flowered Rush, Lotus pedunculatus Greater
Bird’s-foot-trefoil, Mentha aquatica Water Mint, Ranunculus
flammula Lesser Spearwort and Succisa pratensis Devil’s-bit
Marsh Pennywort Hydrocotyle vulgaris
Scabious, among others.
This kind of vegetation persists more or less right down to the

Then we noted a new sedge: densely tufted, up to about 30 cm
pool, but as we made our way northwards, the pool gives way
tall but mostly less, with narrow, shiny bright green leaves and
to the wide mouth of the Longmoor stream which feeds it, and
stems bearing 2-5 fairly distant spikes, each of which is a little
a shorter, more sedge-rich vegetation appears, with Valeriana
cluster of about half a dozen female florets in which each
dioica Marsh Valerian prominent in the sward. This forms a
utricle is drawn out into a sharply-pointed beak. The cluster
discernibly lower plateau of vegetation which is possibly the
spread out widely to form a little star-like group which gives
remnant of peat-cutting activities long ago. Variants of this
this sedge its name of Carex echinata Star Sedge. There are no
type of vegetation persist all the way up the stream margin as
separate male spikes; there are male florets at the base of the
far as the bridge close to Rowton’s Well. We had followed a
terminal spike. The female florets have two stigmas. Together
similar trajectory last year on 25th August and we again saw
these are the characteristic of the other main subgenus of
many of the specialities in this very unusual, even more base-
Carex, i.e subgenus Vignea. A much larger sedge Carex
rich, tract of vegetation such as Galium uliginosum Fen
paniculata Great Tussock-sedge, with its huge heads of stiff,
Bedstraw, Eleocharis quinqueflora Few-flowered Spike-rush,
rather shiny leaves borne on a trunk-like column made of
Pinguicula vulgaris Butterwort, Pedicularis palustris Marsh
matted rhizomes and the leaf bases of previous years started to
Lousewort and Triglochin palustris Marsh Arrow-grass, but this
appear, indicating wetter and much less base-poor conditions.
year we had come earlier, in order to catch the sedges before
This is also a member of subgenus Vignea and its much-
their fruit dropped. In this we were quite successful, although
branched inflorescence, like a grass panicle, is also typical of
we had to look hard to find some species.
many members of Vignea. In the case of Carex paniculata the
spikes either have a few male florets at their tips or are all
female.
Differences between subgenus Vignea and subgenus Carex of the Sedge genus Carex
Subgenus Vignea Subgenus Carex

Inflorescence branching Often branched several times, with the spikes Main axis branched only once, with spikes
(contiguous clusters of flowers) at the tips of on these (short or long) branches
the branches
Arrangement of male and Spikes all similar in appearance, either all Upper spikes entirely of male florets,
female flowers female or have a mixture of male and female lower entirely of female, although their
florets might be one or two between which are
male above and female below
Number of stigmas in female Always two Always three, except in Carex nigra and a
flower few close allies, which have two
Sutton Park sedges paniculata, diandra, otrubae, spicata, disticha, hirta, acutiformis, riparia, pseudocyperus,
remota, leporina, echinata, dioica, disticha, rostrata, pendula, sylvatica, flacca,
canescens, panicea, laevigata, binervis, laevigata,
hostiana, demissa, caryophyllea, pilulifera
(pulicaris is in its own subgenus)
Whilst still in SP0995NW, alongside the subgenus Vignea sedge the glume which subtends each utricle has a fairly prominent
Carex echinata, we saw a fair amount of small, glaucous-leaved hyaline margin. This sedge is actually related to the larger
sedges belonging to subgenus Carex. Of the small, glaucous- Carex binervis and Carex laevigata found elsewhere in the Park
leaved members of this subgenus, Carex panicea Carnation and like them, has a tongue-like flap on the opposite side to the
Sedge, has very glaucous vegetative shoots and is easily ligule where the leaf sheath meets the leaf blade. It must also
recognised in fruit by its single male spike and its 1-3, erect be related to Carex demissa, since it hybridises with it. We
female spikes bearing a gappy spiral of relatively large female have seen the hybrid in the Longmoor Valley – it is sterile and
flowers, each within an inflated utricle with a very short beak. becomes particularly obvious later in the season when the
The three stigmas per flower differentiate it from the fairly fertile parents have shed their mature fruits since it retains its
glaucous Carex nigra Common Sedge which has two stigmas female spikes in place - but on this occasion we did not see it.
per flower and much neater, cylindrical female spikes of smaller
flowers, each within a relatively flat, very short-beaked utricle. These base-rich mires also contain two very small sedges with
The third small, glaucous sedge found in these kinds of habitats bristle-like leaf blades. Smallest of all our sedges here is Carex
is Carex flacca, which has several male spikes per inflorescence, dioica Dioecious Sedge. Usually less than 10 cm tall it flowers
at least the lowest female spike is long-stalked and pendulous earlier than most sedges, which might account for the fact that
and the female flowers, with 3-stigmas, are arranged in neat we had not recorded it since the 1980s until very late in the
cylinders of small, flattened, short-beaked utricles. We did NOT Birmingham and Black Country Flora recording programme. On
see the latter sedge at all, nor have we ever seen it in the this occasion, we found it on both sides of the stream in low,
Longmoor Valley, although it has been widely recorded in open vegetation with Eleocharis quinqueflora, Eriophorum
Sutton Park in the past, even by Bagnall. It is of course a sedge angustifolium, Pinguicula vulgaris and Carex panicea. As the
which extends into much dry habitats. name suggests it is dioecious, i.e. there are separate male and
female plants. The inflorescence of each is a single terminal
With a similar stature, found especially in barer patches, we spike. We only saw the female inflorescences, which
also saw the relatively yellow-green-leaved sedge Carex have their single spike about 10 mm long or less,
demissa Common Yellow-sedge. This has a very distinctive
consisting of an ovoid cluster of quite long-beaked
inflorescence. There is a single terminal male spike, and below
utricles.
it is a tight cluster of two or three very short-stalked, ovoid
female spikes made up of sharply-beaked utricles. There may We also saw Carex pulicaris Flea Sedge. Like Carex dioica the
be another female spike at some distance below. We also inflorescence consists of a single spike, but it is made up of
noted a much larger sedge, typically 30 cm or more tall in male florets above and female ones below. The flowering
flower, forming large continuous patches of upright stems, like stems are taller than in Carex dioica and as the female flowers
a low reedswamp. The leaves are fairly glaucous above and the mature they become deflexed and hang off the stem like fleas!
inflorescence has several male spikes above and 2-5 suberect
female spikes below. These are cylindrical and much larger Like most of the plants here by the stream, both Carex dioica
than those we have described above, up to 8 cm long, made up and Carex pulicaris are characteristic of base-rich flushes, i.e.
of large utricles, each with a long beak and resembling a bottle situations where water issues out of the ground bearing
in shape. This is Carex rostrata Bottle Sedge, which is dissolved bases, especially Calcium. Where such situations are
intermediate in size and form between the small sedges we reasonably nutrient-poor, a short, open, bryophyte-rich
have described above and the large reedswamp-forming sedges vegetation with many uncommon vascular plant species
such as Carex acutiformis Lesser Pond-sedge. develops. In the National Vegetation Classification Rodwell
names one of these the M10 Carex dioica –Pinguicula vulgaris
It was only after we had crossed into SP0996SW that we mire, an uncommon type and undoubtedly present here in the
managed to find some of the other key sedge species known Longmoor Valley. Even more unusual are the mires
from the Longmoor Valley. Carex hostiana Tawny Sedge is characterised by Parnassia palustris Grass-of-Parnassus and
similar in size to, or slightly larger than, Carex nigra. The leaves Carex diandra Lesser Tussock-sedge, both of which species are
are mid-green and have a trigonous point even more marked equally undoubtedly still present in Longmoor Valley. These
than that in blue-green-leaved Carex panicea. The inflorescence vegetation types are otherwise probably otherwise extinct in
typically has one terminal male spike and 1-3 erect, shortly- the central lowlands of England and it is a miracle that they
stalked, shortly cylindrical female spikes. The utricles are tawny persist only here, within the Birmingham and Black Country
yellow-green, they have a long beak, and the conurbation.
The inflorescences of some of the sedges from the Longmoor mires

Note that these photographs are at different magnifications, which are indicated. Also that, so far, we have not actually found
Carex flacca in these mires, and also that the photograph of Carex rostrata only shows a female spike.
Carex dioica ×2 Carex pulicaris ×2 Carex echinata ×2
Carex nigra ×1 Carex panicea ×1 Carex flacca ×0.5
Carex demissa ×2 Carex hostiana ×1 Carex rostrata ×1

After crossing the stream, we made our way south back 10. Wednesday 3rd August 2016
towards Longmoor Pool. Only a very small area with the M10
Carex dioica –Pinguicula vulgaris mire occurs on the eastern Twelve of us met at Wyndley Leisure Centre. After finding one
side of the stream. We did however also find a few plants of another in the vast car park (and confirming that we didn’t
Drosera rotundifolia Round-leaved Sundew there, probably have to pay despite the notices) we set off northwards in
now the last population in Sutton Park. SP1196SW, plunging through nettles and a mixed plantation
including Alnus cordata Italian Alder as well as Alnus glutinosa
Immediately either side of the stream itself there is a further Alder, at least one probable hybrid between A incana and A
mire zone, dominated by Epilobium hirsutum Great glutinosa, Carpinus betulus Hornbeam, Acer pseudoplatanus
Willowherb. This is a species associated with mires rich in Sycamore, Robinia pseudoacacea False-acacia etc. Beyond this
nutrients. It demonstrates that the stream is bringing fertility, we found the pool marked on the OS map, pretty completely
and the low diversity and common species associated with high surrounded by trees and apparently little visited. As usual at
fertility, down the stream. There is no mystery about the Sutton Park, dense shade meant we only recorded a short list
source of this fertility: it is the discharges from the road drains of marginals (Impatiens glandulifera Indian Balsam was
and the permitted sewage overflows which impinge on the unfortunately included).
Longmoor Valley drainage system along the B4138 Thornhill
Road. It would only take a blockage of the stream in a time of
spate for these eutrophic waters to flow right over the precious
base-rich and nutrient-poor mires either side and render them
damaged or even extinct.
Two notable moths for Warwickshire were recorded on this

visit, Deltote uncula Silver Hook and Scotopteryx mucronata
Lead Belle. Silver Hook occurs in marshes, fens and acid bogs
and has a scattered distribution over much of Britain, but is
largely absent from most of central England
Shaded pool partly covered with Yellow Water-lily Nuphar lutea
http://ukmoths.org.uk/species/deltote-uncula/ .
Circumnavigating the pool, we entered SP1196SE, noting

Nuphar lutea Yellow Water-lily in the pool, plus a modest haul
of water marginals such as Myosotis scorpioides Water Forget-
me-not, Mentha aquatica Water Mint, Rumex conglomeratus
Clustered Dock, Veronica beccabunga Brooklime and
Schedonorus giganteus Giant Fescue. In the woods there was a
reasonable range of ferns, Rumex sanguineus Wood Dock and
Hypericum androsaemum Tutsan, but also both Prunus
laurocerasus Cherry-laurel and Rhododendron ponticum
Rhododendron.
In the woods we found the Clifton Road Youth Centre where

around the car park we recorded several tall Ulmus glabra
Silver Hook Deltote uncula Wych Elms that were seemingly resistant to Dutch Elm Disease,
and recorded several species associated with cultivation such
We circumnavigated the Longmoor Pool, and were as Arabidopsis thaliana Thale-cress, Helminthotheca echioides
Bristly Oxtongue (which we had recorded last year not far away
pleased to find at least one population of Ranunculus
by the Town Gate) and, flowering curiously late by one of the
omiophyllus Round-leaved Crowfoot persisting in the
Centre tracks Erophila verna sensu stricto Common
ditch adjacent to the metalled track which took us back to
Whitlowgrass. From there we re-entered SP1196SW shortly
the car park. before taking the gate into the main part of the Park close to
the Visitors’ Centre. SP1196SE had provided a list of 98 species,
quite a good total, reflecting a good range of habitats, but
mostly ones marginal to the Park.
Harebell Campanula rotundifolia

Wych Elm Ulmus glabra
From the meadow we were taken by Matthew to Park House

where he led us to one of the apple trees in the orchard at the
rear of the building. There, suspended from a branch a large
clump of Honey Bees had swarmed.
Sutton Park Visitors Centre

Swarm of Honey
Bees suspended
After our break for lunch near the Visitors Centre we were
from branch of
joined for the afternoon session by Matthew Barker, one of the
apple tree in Park
Sutton Park Rangers. In SP1196SW, we carried on north to the House orchard
Toby Carvery, taking a slight detour on the way to look at a
large patch of Carex hirta Hairy Sedge discovered by Matthew. This fascinating and natural part of the life cycle of Honey
Unfortunately, by this time of the year there were none of its
Bees provided an interesting photographic opportunity
hairy fruits to be seen. We were unable to verify the tentative
for some of the party before retracing our steps back to
record of Cicerbita macrophylla subsp. uralensis Blue Sow-
thistle by the cattle grid. We found a few rosettes, but the
the Leisure Centre.
population seemed diminished since last year and we saw no
inflorescences. We walked across the meadow nearby and
were pleased to see a good population of Campanula
rotundifolia Harebell, a plant we have scarcely seen in the Park.
Further examples of Hairy Sedge were recorded here along
with a single plant of Carex muricata subsp. pairae, Prickly
Sedge, a new sedge record for Sutton Park?
11. Saturday 13th August 2016 Returning to the main track through Holly Hurst and heading
northwards in the direction of Keeper’s Pool our rather short
Six of us assembled at the Aircraft Modellers’ car park accessed list was boosted by an occasional straggly example of
from Boldmere Gate. The aim of this meeting was to record the Vaccinium myrtillus Bilberry and Calluna vulgaris Heather along
woodland to the south of Keeper’s Pool (SP1096). The majority the edge of the woodland. These few rather poor specimens
of this square is in Holly Hurst. have hung on in the deteriorating light conditions for many
years and will surely benefit from the increased light-levels that
During winter 2015/6 virtually all of the holly from this
the thinning of the woodland brings. As we neared the
woodland was coppiced and removed using a mechanical
northern end of the square the woodland on the east of the
harvester, leaving only the mature oaks and birches and the
track gives way to a large expanse of acid grassland and
occasional Sweet Chestnut and Scots Pine that were originally
scattered scrub. With an eye on the GPS it was apparent that
planted here. At least six months has now elapsed since
we could not venture too far into this area without leaving the
coppicing took place and today’s recording session provided
square but our species list was boosted somewhat by typical
the perfect opportunity for us to search for signs of life in
acid grassland species such as Nardus stricta Mat-grass,
places where for many years little in the way of natural light
Deschampsia flexuosa Wavy Hair-grass, Molinia caerulea Purple
has been able to penetrate the dense covering of holly. To be
Moor-grass, Juncus effusus Heath Bedstraw, Potentilla erecta
expected, as coppicing is a highly effective method of inducing
Tormentil, Soft Rush, Galium saxatile and a flowering example
vigorous regrowth, sprouting was already underway from some
of the easily overlooked Danthonia decumbens Heath Grass,
of the holly stumps. Furthermore, in places, small holly plants
with its fringe of hairs replacing the membranous ligule typical
from recently germinated seeds are beginning to appear, but
of most grasses.
an anticipated birch regeneration from long dormant seed has
yet to materialise. Other than a few rather impoverished
patches of bramble, there was little else in the thick mulch of
twig debris and decomposing holly leaves.
Heath-grass Danthonia decumbens
Along the well-worn compacted edges of the track in this area

Poa annua Annual Meadow-grass, Prunella vulgaris Self-heal,
Holly regrowth from coppiced stump Sagina procumbens Procumbent Pearlwort, Rumex acetosella
Sheep’s Sorrel and Veronica serpyllifolia Thyme-leaved
Speedwell find a home.
Nearby, Juncus squarrosus Heath Rush, a rush more tolerant of

trampling than most, was quite frequent in the compacted
grassland where people walk. Both of the Park’s gorses grow
together here, the generally more robust Ulex europeaus Gorse
whose main flowering takes place during the early months of
the year and the more compact Ulex gallii Western Gorse,
whose flowering period was just under way.
Recently germinated holly seedlings

Before returning to the cars via the western track through Holly
Hurst we could not resist a brief incursion into SP1096NE where
the streamside vegetation gave us several moisture-loving
species which included Lycopus europaeus Gypsywort, Rumex
conglomeratus Clustered Dock, Iris pseudacorus Yellow Iris,
Lotus pedunculatus Greater Bird’s-foot Trefoil and Senecio
aquaticus Marsh Ragwort, all of which have probably been
recorded from this square on a previous visit.
12. Thursday 25th August 2016

Western Gorse Ulex gallii
Nine of us (including Maureen D., a new recruit) set out from

The extreme northern end of this square includes the metalled Blackroot Bistro to cover some under-recorded squares west of
road and part of the retaining wall of Keepers Pool. Only the Blackroot Pool. With the weather cloudy and rain threatening,
first metre or so of the pool is included but this was enough for we did not pause to get any further records from the pool itself,
us to confirm the presence of Myriophyllum spicatum Spiked noting only the exuberantly flowering Impatiens glandulifera
Water-milfoil and Ceratophyllylum emersum Rigid Hornwort Himalayan Balsam below the dam and the Nymphaea alba
from the water. In the mortar of the brickwork surrounding the White Water-lily in the pool, which was also in full flower. Stace
pool we recorded a specimen of Asplenium scolopendrium points out that various exotic species and hybids of Nymphaea,
Hart’s-tongue, a rather uncommon fern in Sutton Park. A small often with pink or yellow flowers, are planted and persist and
willow growing from the brickwork mortar and overhanging the spread. Many are N. alba hybrids, mostly referable to N.
water was virtually devoid of all its leaves. On close inspection marliacea. The Flora and the Hybrid Flora give little further
sawfly larvae were detected rapidly devouring what was left of detail, so the Blackroot specimen, with pure white flowers, will
the foliage. A solitary Vapourer Moth caterpillar was also have to be referred to the native N. alba.
present on one of the twigs. This spectacularly colourful and
hairy caterpillar is one of our most instantly recognizable
caterpillars. The adult male moth by comparison is rather drab
and the female of the species is wingless!
White Water-lily
Nymphaea alba in
Blackroot Pool
We ascended Blackroot Glade into our first square SP1097SW.

The track is wide, but there is very little marginal vegetation
and nothing of note except a little Circaea lutetiana Enchanter’s
Nightshade, fruiting Callitriche stagnalis Starwort and at least
one Quercus petraea Sessile Oak with long-stalked leaves
without auricles.
We entered the wood south of the track. Dense and dark,

Caterpillar of Vapourer Moth there was little field layer but some interest in the planted
trees, which included Picea sitchensis Sitka Spruce, Quercus
rubra Red Oak, and Larix decidua Larch and L. x marschlinsii
Hybrid Larch. Even the small specimens were in clusters and
looked planted rather than self-sown.
Red Oak Quercus rubra
We took a detour north into a more open glade which had

quite a respectable heathland flora including Carex binervis
Heath Rush Juncus squarrosus with Coleophera alticolella
Green-ribbed Sedge, non-flowering but with the characteristic
pinky-red colouration to the lower leaves, which are matt
Last year we had recorded a small but interesting mire here
above, shiny beneath with darker veins. However, we soon
south of the stream, but once we got there we were soon led
came upon the northern and western limits of the square and
by the vegetation (and Mike P) north across the stream, where
headed south from the track into very dense and dark mature
we found that the mire, which clearly acts as a wet approach to
plantation with some beautiful huge specimens of Pinus
Keeper’s Pool, was even more interesting that side. Bearing
sylvestris and other trees. It then started to rain heavily and we
some resemblance to the mires above Blackroot Pool, there are
rather glumly ate our lunches under the trees in the rain.
extensive areas of Sphagnum Bog-mosses (several species
We eventually entered SP1096NW, our other target for the including a red one) and other extensive stands of Agrostis
day, and after some dreadful map reading by ICT, Richard O. led canina Velvet Bent with long stolons, narrow leaves, pointed
us westward out of the wood into heathland, but still in the ligules and very few inflorescences, although those had awns as
same square. Here we could see we were in the broad expected.
Keeper’s Valley which leads south east to Keeper’s Pool. At this
time of the year large swathes of the heathland turn a beautiful
purple and yellow as Calluna vulgaris Heather and Ulex gallii
Western Gorse reach their flowering peak.
Extensive patch of Velvet Bent Agrostis canina
There were also quite large stands of Carex rostrata Bottle

Flora group make their way across Keeper’s Valley through
Sedge, still with a few intact inflorescences. This area yielded a
Heather and Western Gorse good list of some of the choicest mire species of the Park
including Comarum palustris Marsh Cinquefoil, Viola palustris
Juncus squarrosus Heath Rush is also very common in this area, Marsh Violet and Valeriana dioica Marsh Valerian. The greatest
and as we approach late summer the distinctive protective find of the day (by Mike P.) was two patches of flowering Pink
silken cases of the micro-moth Coleophera alticolella are very Scullcap Scutellaria minor, unmistakable in full flower. This is
obvious protruding from the developing seed heads. the first site for this in the Park except for the one north west
of Little Bracebridge Pool refound by Brian Laney in 2009.
The mire area has rather a lot of developing scrub, which might
eventually suppress the interest, including quite a lot of
Rhododendron ponticum Rhododendron. It would however be
very difficult to open up and suppress the Rhododendron.
Eventually we entered SP1096NE and penetrated first the

woodland north of Keeper’s Pool and then the artificial
embankment which had been used for swimming in the past Reedswamp
advancement across the
and later covered with imported soil. This had largely lost the
shallow open water of
annual ruderal flora it possessed when we surveyed it for the
Little Bracebridge Pool.
Flora in 2006, although there are quite a few common species
still here which are otherwise quite scarce in the Park, of which
We headed north-east across the heath, which looked very
the most unwelcome is probably Buddleja davidii Butterfly
attractive with Calluna vulgaris Heather, Erica tetralix Cross-
Bush.
leaved Heath and Ulex gallii Western Gorse all flowering and
we soon entered SP0998NE, for which we only currently have a
few records.
The heathland continues, with much cover of typical heathland

pleurocarpous (trailing, with branching stems, chaffy leaves
with poorly-marked midribs) mosses such as Hypnum
jutlandicum, Pleurozium schreberi and Pseudoscleropodium
purum, not to mention the acrocarpous moss (erect, little-
branched stems, leaves usually with a strong midrib), a fairly
recent immigrant to Britain, Campylopus introflexus with its
Recording vegetation near Keeper’s Pool
star-like cluster of white leaf tips at the tips of its stems.
We noted Ceratophyllum demersum Rigid Hornwort in the pool

prior to taking the track by the dam back to Blackroot Pool and
the Blackroot Bistro car park beyond.
13. Friday 9th September 2016
Eight of us met across the railway line from Little Bracebridge

Pool. The ditches alongside the track there are quite
interesting at this time of year. Rorippa palustris Marsh Yellow-
cress was still in flower, with its petals about as long as the
sepals and with fruits ‘short (5-10mm) and fat (1.3-2 mm)’ and
thus distinct from Rorippa sylvestris Creeping Yellow-cress, with
Heath Plait Moss Hypnum jutlandicum
petals longer than the sepals and fruit much longer and
narrower. We were surprised to see one plant of Agrimonia
Western Gorse and Cross-leaved Heath seemed to have died
eupatoria Agrimony in flower in the ditch; it is much more likely
out, and there was Ulex europaeus Common Gorse, more scrub
to be found in drier and more neutral or even base-rich
and even patches of Pinus sylvestris Scots Pine, but otherwise
grassland.
most of the common heathland flora was still present and also
We crossed the railway bridge and skirted Little Bracebridge a short list of damp- and shade-indicators along the more shady
Pool, resisting the temptation to record since we had been tracks.
there several times before. We thought that the reedswamp
and especially the fringe of Menyanthes trifolia Bogbean are
advancing quite rapidly across the shallow open water.
pappus mostly of branched, feather-like hairs, both being

present as well as Hypochaeris radicata Cat’s-ear with much
hairier leaves, pappus of branched hairs, but in addition,
yellow, petal-like scales mixed with and about as long as the
flowers in the flower head which are absent in Crepis and
Scozonerioides. We also noticed a few sedges and although not
flowering we were able to distinguish the blue-green Carex
panicea Carnation Sedge with trigonous leaf-points here in only
moderately damp situations, the green C. pilulifera Pill Sedge
Flora group advance along damp, shady track growing in the dry heath, especially along the paths and (once)
the larger (leaf breadth 2-5 mm) C. binervis Green-ribbed Sedge
We collected material of Buckler-fern with only slight darkening which has characteristic prominent wine-red splotches on the
in the petiole scales but all the samples we took which had dying leaves.
mature sporangia had viable-appearing spores so we were
Green-ribbed Sedge usually indicates the transition between
unable to record the hybrid between Dryopteris dilatata Broad
dry heath and mire, but here there was no mire, and probably
Buckler fern and D. carthusiana Narrow Buckler-fern despite
both it and C. panicea have germinated in relatively dry
both parents being present. On the other hand, a sample from
situations due to the scrub clearance.
the mature stem of a Birch with the triangular, somewhat
acuminate leaf of Silver Birch had the simple serration and the We continued to move south and west into dense woodland
hairy stems and leaves of B. pubescens Downy Birch, so we felt with little field layer, expertly guided by Simon P. using a
justified in recording the hybrid between the two B. x aurata. compass, until we entered the well-recorded SP1098SW and
eventually the eastern shore of Bracebridge Pool, which we
Having recorded fifty vascular plant species, we reached
followed back to Little Bracebridge Pool, noting considerable
SP1098NW, also poorly recorded, close to the northern edge of
scrub clearance north of the track.
the Park. We added a few species from the short-grazed
grassland by the entrance from Streetly Lane and were able to
identify the tree-like large-leaved Cotoneaster which we had
seen in the spring by the entrance gate as Cotoneaster rehderi
Hollyberry Cotoneaster.
Alder Buckthorn Frangula alnus fruiting alongside track
We were unable to find any Wood Horsetail Equisetum

sylvaticum in its usual area here, however, it is late in the
season and by this time we were heading back to our cars quite
Hollyberry Cotoneaster Cotoneaster rehderi
rapidly.
This square is largely plantation and scrub, but a large area of

scrub has been cleared in the northern half and has quite a
good dry heathland and heathy grassland flora. We had lunch
here, despite the presence of ubiquitous very prickly young
plants of Ulex gallii Western Gorse. We struggled with small
flowering composites in this vegetation and distinguished
Crepis capillaris Smooth Hawk’s-beard with a pappus of simple
hairs from Scorzoneroides autumnalis Autumn Hawkbit with a
14. Friday 16th September 2016
Nine of us set out from Banner’s Gate to record some squares

in the western periphery of the Park. On our way, along the
track east of Westwood Coppice, we noted frequent Agrostis
inflorescences, well into fruit but with the panicle remaining
open; the plants were however considerably larger than those
of Agrostis capillaris Common Bent in the heath. We checked
many of them for Agrostis gigantea Black Bent, but in all cases
the ligule was short (shorter than wide on the vegetative Sewage scrape area with colonising Western Gorse Ulex gallii
shoots), suggesting A. capillaris. There seem to be few other
reliable characteristics distinguishing between A. capillaris and The vegetation is overwhelmingly dominated by native species,
A. gigantea, although the latter is said to have the spikelets although there are still scattered individuals of such neophytes
more clustered at the ends of the branches and to have the as Conyza canadensis Canadian Fleabane and Cyperus
panicle branches more reliably scabrid. A. gigantea is larger in eragrostis Pale Galingale (both flowering).
all its parts, but there is plenty of overlap between the two and
A. capillaris has some pretty large races as well as small ones. Dragging Mike and the others away from this fascinating (but
Further north, we checked the sewage scrape area in well-recorded) feature, we entered SP0896NW, which had only
SP0896SE. been recorded in spring. Mostly plantation and scrub, with
only an eastern fringe of heath, we added little to the spring
list, although there was a small group of ruderals such as
Artemisia vulgaris Mugwort and Sisymbrium officinale Hedge
Mustard hanging about one of the entrances to the Park.
We took another sample of the small, young plantation of

Ulmus Elm in the area where the building had been demolished
adjacent to the Chester Road/Queslett Road East/Thornhill
Road roundabout. Its characteristics are closest to U. x vegeta
Huntingdon Elm, which is rare in the wild but often planted, but
Some of the group make their the match is not close. Also collected there was a Spiraea sp.
way around the open water
Bridewort, presumably a remnant of cultivation. The plant was
of the sewage scrape
well into fruit, but the large leaves, whitish-tomentose beneath
and only toothed above the middle, suggest the common
We found quite an extent of open water after the recent rains, Spiraea douglasii subsp. douglasii Steeple-bush.
and a good presence of Persicaria minor Small Water-pepper,
nicely mixed in with P. hydropiper Water-pepper and P. We quickly moved on into SP0897SW, for which we had no
maculosa Redshank, all in flower. There is perhaps not so much records. Similar to the previous square, there is only a poor
of Small Water-pepper as last year, but it is still frequent at the flora beneath the trees and Holly scrub, although we did note
eastern end of the pool. In our first visit to this site last year ICT one or two Quercus petraea x Q. robur Hybrid Oak trees and a
recorded the invasive alien Crassula helmsii New Zealand narrow strip of heath to the east. Along the western margin by
Pigmyweed; it has not been seen there since and was not seen the Thornhill Road were sedges, unfortunately without fruit.
there today. The vegetation is developing into a rich patchwork Moving north into SP0897NW, also previously without records,
of dry heath and mire, with only incipient tendencies for scrub and woodland continued in an even narrower strip. The
willows and birches to colonise, although there are now some flora was enhanced (at least in numbers!) by a small water
extensive and almost dominant patches of Ulex gallii Western outflow into a gully, with Viola riviniana Common Dog-violet,
Gorse. Carex pendula Pendulous Sedge and Meconopsis cambrica
Welsh Poppy.
Further east along the metalled track we emerged from dark

woodland into the heathland and heathy grassland west of
Water outflow Wyndley Pool, with little of note here other than a clump of
with Common parasitic Fistulina hepatica Beefsteak Fungus growing from the
Dog-violet Viola
trunk of a dying oak tree, and were able to penetrate a little
riviniana,
way into the mire west of the pool before we ran out of square.
Pendulous Sedge
Carex pendula and
Welsh Poppy
Meconopsis
cambrica present
Some clearly-planted, medium-sized oaks included one evident

hybrid Quercus petraea x Q. robur with quite long-stalked
leaves. Along the path were some fairly extended, rather more
open wet areas with a glaucous sedge with trigonous leaf tips
which we identified as Carex panicea Carnation Sedge and
another sedge with green leaves which we did not identify. Beefsteak Fungus Fistulina hepatica
Also the broad-leaved grass with leaves with hairy auricles

Schedonorus arundinaceus Tall Fescue and Juncus inflexus Hard There we did manage to ascertain that much of the Sweet-grass
Rush as well as Juncus effusus Soft Rush. On the map this area there is Glyceria fluitans Floating Sweet-grass, which we had
is not shown as wooded; possibly the scrub here is fairly recent. been unable to decide on our spring visit to Boldmere Pool. We
also noted how extensive is the stoloniferous sward of Agrostis
The most prominent feature adjacent to these two squares was canina Velvet Bent in these lightly-shaded areas.
the presence of Sutton Coldfield Golf Course to the east, mostly
in SP0997NE and SE. This will have to be investigated next year
now.
15. Thursday 22nd September 2016
On an unexpectedly warm and sunny day, ten of us celebrated

the autumn equinox by bolstering our records for the two
squares either side of the Boldmere Gate car park (SP1095NE
Lawn of Velvet Bent Agrostis canina
and SP1095NW). First we headed east towards Wyndley Pool,
finding little to record in Wyndley Wood, but more in the
We then headed north into Holly Wood, passing the disturbed
grassland north of the metalled track. Rather less base-poor
area of Holly Hurst Cottage and noting both Impatiens
than some of the Park’s grasslands, it was dotted with the
glandulifera Indian Balsam and the dead stems of Conium
yellow flowers of Leontodon saxatilis Lesser Hawkbit,
maculatum Hemlock. We headed east across the area of Holly
distinguishable from most similar small composites in the Park
Hurst harvested for biofuel last winter and saw little
by the forked hairs on the leaves. This seems to be a
regeneration except for masses of Ilex aquifolium Holly
continuation of the population we noted in a previous visit east
seedlings. We must have headed south west across this area,
of the track running north from the Boldmere Gate car park.
because we emerged into the same grassland with Leontodon
We also noted that parts of this grassland have been rendered
saxatilis close to the car park. Crossing the slightly disturbed
rather open, presumably by vehicles transporting the cut Holly
area further north than last time we were pleased to find a
stems harvested for biofuel from Holly Hurst last winter and
single young plant of Senecio sylvaticus Heath Groundsel, not
were able to add a more ruderal flora including Gnaphalium
yet in full flower but with its unmistakable pungent odour, at
uliginosum Marsh Cudweed.
SP10589576. This species of bare and rather disturbed places
in heathlands is scarce in Birmingham and the Black Country
Country and has not been recorded in Sutton Park since the
days of Bagnall in the 1860s. Could this new record be a re-
emergence from the seedbank following disturbance, or has it
been re-introduced to the park on the wheels of the timber-
extraction vehicles?
Extensive stands of Teasel Dipsacus fullonum near Powell’s Pool
There is a mown and marked-out football pitch here, but

crossing this we were able to enter the wet woodland south of
Wyndley Pool. This proved to be very similar to the woodland
west of the pool and we noted at least one plant of both
Heath Groundsel Senecio sylvaticus Frangula alnus Alder Buckthorn and Prunus padus Bird Cherry,
scattered Viburnum opulus Guelder-rose, extensive stands of
We crossed the track heading north from the car park and soon Impatiens glandulifera Indian Balsam and some fine patches of
entered SP1095NW, where we stopped for lunch. We then reedswamp sedge, most of which we identified as Carex
headed north-west across a quite undulating area of fairly acutiformis Lesser Pond-sedge.
species-poor heath, acid grassland and birch scrub. Eventually
we hit the fence delimiting Boldmere Golf Course, which is
fairly penetrable, but saw little beyond to encourage us to
attract the wrath of the golfers by entering. We did however
note some quite impressive mature Quercus robur Common
Oak adjacent to the Golf Course fence.
Eventually we caught sight of Powell’s Pool to the south and

traversed the part of the damper hummocky scrub area north Extensive stands of
of the pool which is still in SP1095NW. This supports the first Indian Balsam
Impatiens glandulifera
Cirsium palustre Marsh Thistle which we had seen that day and
near football pitch
extensive stands of Dipsacus fullonum Teasel but is largely
occupied by quite large plants of Salix cinerea Grey Willow. As
As we approached the pool, we entered SP1195 NW, the same
is often the case these plants were very variable in leaf size, but
square which we had surveyed last spring but on the other side
we were not convinced that any Salix caprea x Salix cinerea
of the pool. There is only a narrow zone of woodland present
hybrids were present. The most plausible explanation of this
in this square, but it is disfigured by the dumping of grass
area is that it has received dredgings from the pool. This idea
cuttings and other unwanted garden plant material,
was supported by the presence of Persicaria amphibia
presumably from the adjacent garden. Probably as a result,
Amphibious Bistort in unusually dry places, suggesting
several aliens have established themselves here, including
persistence on dredgings from the pool margin. Possibly this
Lonicera nitida, the alien subspecies of Lamiastrum
area had previously supported a more interesting wetland
galeobdolon, i.e. subsp. argentatum Yellow Archangel and a
vegetation. We did note the scattered remains of Carex
Spiraea with long, narrow, cylindrical panicles and leaves only
paniculata Greater Tussock-sedge tussocks. From here it was a
slightly hairy beneath which keyed out as Spiraea x
short stride across semi-improved grassland to the car park.
pseudosalicifolia Confused Bridewort. We also noted scattered
Some of us decided to drive out of the Park and east along plants of our old friend Equisetum x litorale in both squares.
Monmouth Drive to try to access the small area of the Park in
Eventually we retraced out steps back across the football pitch
SP1195SW, south of Wyndley Pool. As previously advised by
to Monmouth Drive.
Chief Ranger Danny Squire, we were able to park on the road
verge by a gated entrance.
16. Friday 30th September 2016 – This is part of a system of barriers erected in the 12th to 15th
Archaeology Walk centuries to subdivide the deer park to aid in deer
management. We saw two of these in the walk last March.
This one encompasses all the ancient woodlands and
This walk, led by Mike Hodder, started at Four Oaks Gate at
watercourses in the north of the Park, turning a right-angle at
SP10919858, where we looked south west towards Gum Slade
SP10539877, running south to Little Bracebridge Pool and then
which Mike remarked lies in the only anciently-wooded part of
around Streetly Wood and afterwards along the western
Sutton Park which had not been enclosed by new banks and
margin of Darnel Hurst and Nut Hurst. Mostly these banks have
ditches in the 16th Century and converted from wood pasture
not been excavated but where they have, by Keepers Pool,
to coppice woodland. Interestingly, it is the only part which
there is no evidence of post holes and it is thought that they
retains pollarded oaks.
were maintained as dead hedges by piling up woodland
thinnings on top of the bank.
The metalled road here, which runs south inside the park
towards the restaurant at Bracebridge Pool, marks the edge of We followed this bank south, veering west to see a curious
a large area around the former Four Oaks Hall, which was taken circular pit at SP10489867. This is not considered to have the
out of Sutton Park in the 18th and 19th centuries, developed characteristics of a saw pit and might have been a charcoal-
for housing in the 20th century and now forms the Four Oaks burning or a wood drying pit or even a structure such as a small
Park and Ladywood. The 19th century land owner (Sir Edmund building, or even a wartime feature from 19th or 20th century.
Hartopp) also owned farmland at Meadow Platt in the south
east of the Park and gave it to Sutton Coldfield, which We again detoured south to SP10349837 where we noted the
incorporated it into the Park in exchange for allowing him to north east corner of Pool Hollies, marked by another bank, this
take land from the Park. The Meadow Platt field boundaries time with the ditch on the (northern), outer, side of the
are still discernible. anciently wooded area. This marks the change in land use in
the 16th century, when the Park ceased to be a deer park and
From Four Oaks Gate, we first of all walked north west, noting the ancient woodland areas were converted from wood
the small incursion into the Park around Four Oaks Lodge made pasture for deer, to coppice for the production of timber.
in the 18th century. From this point, SP10909867, we followed Outside the ancient woodland areas the predominant use
a track which runs close to the northern, Streetly Lane became the grazing of cattle and horses and the 16th century
boundary of the park, which here is very clearly marked with a banks were designed to keep stock out of the woodlands.
bank right on the Park margin, bearing the current Park fence
and a ditch within the park. This was originally designed as a
barrier (with a palisade on the bank) to prevent deer from
leaving the Park. Almost unbelievably, it dates back to the 12th
century. The deer park (an enclosure for Fallow Deer, with
man-made boundaries) was probably created by Henry I and in
1126, he gave the Earls of Warwick the manor of Sutton
Coldfield, with the park and the right to create Sutton Chase,
16th century bank and
from part of the previous hunting forest of the Norman kings, ditch constructed to
Cannock Forest. Unlike the deer park, the chase would have keep stock out of
had natural boundaries and included human habitations and woodlands
farmland. There is no evidence for such habitation within
Sutton Park even before it was created (even in the Lidar We returned north to follow the early deer management
survey). This lack gives the impression that, as with other boundary. It disappears around SP10309850, where early
parks, this one was delimited on the basis of the poverty and heathland reconstruction in the 1980s used flailing and
uncultivatable nature of the land. This original, well over 800 harrowing which might have destroyed the bank. It could
years old, banked boundary still runs for the entire north and however be detected entering Pool Hollies at SP10209848 and
west margins of Sutton Park. running down the slope to Bracebridge Pool.
We moved a little way south of the track and at SP10879877

we noted another bank, with a ditch on its southern side.
The 16th century coppice boundary bank was also seen again at These are the characteristics of a burnt mound, variously
SP10189848. We however, followed a track north of the wood interpreted but most convincingly as a relic of sauna-type
and at SP09999852, Mike pointed out an area in the track steam bathing. It is suggested that the stones were shattered
where a different kind of pebbles had been exposed. Much of by being heated and then being sprinkled with water and that
the Park is underlain by glacial drift derived from Bunter pebble the dark matrix is the remnant of charcoal from the burning.
beds. These are dominated by rounded water-worn pebbles in
a sandy matrix. These are widely exposed, especially along the Very close by at SP09839872 are a cluster of five previously-
tracks. known burnt mounds, first discovered here in 1926; and there
are further examples elsewhere in the Park, usually associated
with wetter areas than here, notably near Longmoor Pool.
Nevertheless there is a permanently damp area close to the
five which might have provided the water necessary to
generate steam here. The burnt mounds are thought to date to
a short period in the Bronze Age at circa 1500 BC, at a time of
major environmental impact of humans on the landscape and
just prior to a more complete settlement of the landscape.
Water-worn Bunter pebbles typically exposed along many of the

tracks in Sutton Park
One of 10 markers in Sutton Park denoting the site of a Bronze Age

(circa 1500 BC) burnt mound
Heat-shattered pebbles with irregular and angular jagged edges

along track at SP09999852
Mike and group standing on site of Bronze Age burnt mound
From here we headed south to Little Bracebridge Pool, and just

Heat-shattered pebbles with irregular and angular jagged edges
east of the pool at SP09579839, south of the track and
displayed at nearby burnt mound site at SP09839872
protected by another bank and ditch, we noted a substantial
mound which has been shown to contain brickwork. South of
In the north west of the Park these are transitional with this again, towards Bracebridge Pool, are a number of
Hopwas breccias, with similar pebbles, but with more broken rectangular hollows, some filled with swamp and water. The
surfaces and in a more clayey matrix. However here, for 10 or latter hollows probably started out as excavations for peat but
so metres along the track at SP09999852, the pebbles are more had clearly been later deepened. Mike interprets these
thoroughly broken and the surfaces are irregular and angular features as duck decoy areas and the mound as the remains of
and the matrix is darkened with what appears to be organic a duck shooting hide dating from increased recreational use of
content. the Park in the 18th and 19th century.
Little Bracebridge Pool (pictured above) is shown as a Across the dam, beyond the restaurant, there is a series of
continuous part of Bracebridge Pool in the 19th century maps. deep ditches down through the woodland into the pool. This
Bracebridge Pool, like Keepers and Wyndley Pools, was seems excessive if designed merely to drain the wood and the
probably originally created as a fish pond in the 15th century or ditches were probably constructed to increase the flow of
thereabouts, but in the 16th century, a fulling mill was water into the pool to power the mill. We took the metalled
constructed there and it became a mill pool. road east from the restaurant and noted an excellently-
preserved saw pit at SP10229793.
After lunch by Little Bracebridge Pool, we took the track south-
west towards the railway bridge which crosses another bank
which was constructed in the 16th century to keep stock out of
this northern edge of Darnel Hurst. We then forked to the east
and At SP09709809 we were shown an oval depression,
perhaps 5 metres long. This is a saw pit, constructed probably
in the 16th – 17th century. Soil had been dug out, waist deep,
and piled on the down-slope end to create a level perimeter on
which to lay poles for sawing while standing in the pit. 19th
century saw pits are much deeper to allow for the use of 2-man
saws, with one person on top and one in the excavation. Example of an excellently-preserved saw pit at SP10229793
The railway line was constructed in 1879 and travels from the
Next, we explored the heathland (now with rather a lot of
north west to the south east and rather across the grain of the
sturdy birch regrowth) south of the road. At SP10379782 we
Park. It had a station extremely close to the eastern edge of
crossed the traces of a hollow-way, part of an ancient network
the Park, to serve the growing recreational use of the Park.
of tracks used in managing the Park. This one runs down
Since Beeching this line has been used entirely for goods.
through the gap between Darnel Hurst and Upper Nut Hurst,
and allowed cattle to be driven from Sutton town, between the
woods to the heath and grassland beyond.
Railway line cutting across Sutton Park from the NW to SE
Bracebridge Pool is visible to the left through the trees and at Traces of the hollow-way at SP10379782 heading between Darnel
Hurst and Upper Nut Hurst
SP09919790 the track crosses a high mound of spoil from the
construction of the railway, deposited in the quarry which
Other hollows here relate to military training in the 19th
supplies the Bracebridge Pool dam long before. The dam itself
century and later. At SP10409780 we were shown a network of
is very wide, having been extended southwards by more spoil
shallow, winding trenches, thought to have been dug by the
from the railway construction. At the south-western end of the
‘Birmingham Pals’ battalions being trained in trench layout
dam, a fragment of 18th century brickwork can be seen resting
before going out to France in World War 1. These rare survivals
on sandstone.
were only refound in the heathland reclamation work which
took place in the early 2000s.
Across the dam, beyond the restaurant, there is a series of

deep ditches down through the woodland into the pool. This
seems excessive if designed merely to drain the wood and the
There are further examples by Longmoor Pool. 17. Monday 17th October 2016
Further south west, around SP10529761, the land falls away to Nine of us set out from the Model Aeroplane Flyers’ Car Park
the south and the slopes are pock-marked with humps and north of Boldmere Gate. The objective was to improve the
hollows and pits. At the foot of the slope there is a ditch, which records for several squares in the centre of the Park. We moved
is eventually cut through by the railway corridor. This so-called quickly through 1096SW, adding only Galium saxatile Heath
‘ancient encampment’ was written about in the 19th century Bedstraw (which must have been previously omitted in error)
and must therefore be older, e.g. an 18th century military and both Dryopteris carthusiana Narrow Buckler-fern and
training camp or possibly from much earlier still. Excavations Dryopteris dilatata Broad Buckler-fern. Fungi are starting to
have been inconclusive; a geophysical survey picked out appear and we noted Hypholoma fasciculare Sulphur Tuft, and
polygonal lines suggesting ice wedge polygons from glacial various Lycoperdon spp. Puff-balls.
times and the pits pick up this pattern. They might also
represent gravel diggings for the nearby roads and could also This square now has 51 species recorded, which seems to be a
include excavations by past archaeologists! reasonable total for the central dry heaths, although the square
does also include the margin of Hill Hurst.
From this hillside, the Four Oaks developments are visible rising
to the west beyond the Park road, delimited from the Park by a We headed north west into SP0996SE and similarly added a few
sturdy and substantial wall built to keep early recreational heathland species (plus Ilex aquifolium Holly!) to give a total of
visitors away from Four Oaks Hall. 49. We squabbled over a small, non-flowering sedge in the dry
heath which was almost certainly Carex pilulifera Pill Sedge. A
small plantation revealed more fungal fruiting bodies including
Amanita muscaria Fly Agaric, miscellaneous Russula spp. and
Piptoporus betulinus Birch Polypore.
A long walk northwards through SP0996NE added to the total

for previous visits to that square to give 59 overall, and
revealed a good view across Longmoor Valley to the west.
Peter Coxhead pointed out that this view is really anything but
good. Only a few years ago there would have been scarcely any
trees and little continuous scrub between here and Westwood
Coppice; now there is much scrub, some fairly continuous. He
referred us to two photographs taken by himself and by Steve
Falk from the southern end of Longmoor Valley which I
View from hillside towards boundary wall and Four Oaks Estate reproduce on the following page.
The situation already seems to have worsened. We discussed

We made our way back to the Four Oaks car park via a track the reasons for this and agreed that eutrophication from traffic
west of Gum Slade along the eastern margin of Pool Hollies. fumes and possibly climate change were probably mainly to
The track follows the 16th century boundary bank, which is well blame. A few new records pushed the total for this square over
marked and very straight. The wood has spread quite a 50.
distance east from the bank, although it is noticeably almost
entirely Silver Birch. West of the bank, although birches are
present, the wood is also well populated with oaks.
Group follow track through bracken-infested hill

We came down the bracken-infested hill (the bracken showing

signs of being discouraged by management) into SP0996NW.
Bracken showing attractive autumn colouration
We followed the edge of the damper valley habitats north of

Rowton’s Well without recording (we had recorded there quite
well in the past) until we entered SP0997SW, for which we had
only a few records from brief previous visits. Around birch trees
here were several large fruiting bodies of Leccinum versipelle
Orange Birch Bolete. Orange Birch Bolete Leccinum versipelle
After lunch we moved through pleasant dry and damp, but not Soon we found ourselves going north, following a tributary
very species-rich, heath cut by narrow ditches linking into the running approximately north-south. It had clearly been
Longmoor Pool stream system. Some of us were rather excavated from time to time and was difficult to cross, but
surprised to notice that the Sutton Coldfield Golf Course was on there were branches suggesting a natural origin.
our right (i.e. to the east) and we realised that it penetrates
quite a way into the Park from the western boundary.
There was a certain amount of open water, looking quite clear The vegetation was also set with occasional small shrubs of
and with a good flora including Callitriche sp. Water Starwort, Salix cinerea Grey Willow (many with oddly narrow leaves) and
one of which had fruits with forward-pointing stigmas and extended quite a distance to the west beyond the ditch,
wings, suggesting either C. stagnalis or C platycarpa; the wings interspersed with drier but still damp areas of heath. We had
appeared to have vertical striations x20, suggesting stagnalis, already noted small areas of the non-flowering fine-leaved
but there were further, narrower-leaved plants which might be stolons of Agrostis canina Velvet Bent, but there was a little
another species but had no fruits. Juncus bulbosus Bulbous Agrostis with inflorescences with bent awns, which I took to
Rush was also present, but also a fair amount of Lemna minor examine further. The flowers had no detectable paleas,
Common Duckweed, the latter suggesting slow-moving water confirming A. canina or A. vinealis Brown Bent. There were no
and possibly slight nutrient-enrichment. There was also stolons, a short piece of probable rhizome, the ligules were
Ranunculus hederaceus Ivy-leaved Crowfoot and, for 100 pointed, but less so than in canina and the inflorescence was
metres or more, Ranunculus omiophyllus Round-leaved closed in fruit, which does not usually happen in canina. It was
Crowfoot. The latter is clearly much less rare than we had therefore recorded as Agrostis vinealis.
thought at Sutton Park. We also noted Common Darter
Dragonfies. A moth that had just emerged from a cocoon adhered to a
dead grass stalk was determined as Scoliopteryx libatrix Herald.
This attractively-coloured moth overwinters as an adult. The
larvae food plant is willows and poplars.
Group recording vegetation along ditch
Herald Scoliopteryx libatrix and coccoon
This fairly acid mire must be continuous with the one we

located in June this year in SP0896NE and SP0897SE. Not as
botanically rich as the more base-rich mires further down the
Longmoor Valley this nevertheless must be one of the most
extensive mires in the Park and would deserve further study.
Ditch containing both Ranunculus omiophyllus and R. hederacea Eventually we headed east across one of the Golf Course
fairways, finding one or two new species in a young Pinus
Some of the more intrepid crossed the ditch; both sides bore a sylvestris Scots Pine plantation before re-entering the central
large extent of rush (Juncus effusus Soft Rush) marsh. It was dry heathland and retracing our steps southwards back to the
not especially species-rich but we eventually noted Eriophorum Model Aeroplane Flyers’ car park. By the track close to the car
angustifolium Common Cottongrass, now without its cotton park we noticed a large clump of Saponaria officinalis
heads but with sedge-like shoots in which the leaves have very Soapwort, covered with single pink flowers. The double form is
long (several centimetres long in some cases) trigonous points. probably more common in Birmingham and the Black Country,
After a bit of struggle, we realised that the large tussocks of but both are definite garden escapes.
bristle-like leaves (like double –sized Nardus stricta Mat-grass)
were in fact Eriophorum vaginatum Hare’s-tail Cottongrass,
complete with next year’s flowering stems, short but already
Ian Trueman
well-formed.
Birmingham and Black Country Botanical Group – 09/06/2016
Thanks to all those who attended the

Sutton Park Field Visits!
The names below are presented in alphabetical order by surname.
Apologies to those we may have omitted!:
Ray Allen, Matthew Barker, Gillian Barnard, John Bates, Maggie Birchall, Jackie Bloor, Jaz Boparai, Sam Bucknell, Sara Carvalho, Paul
Cox, Peter Coxhead, Maureen Davis, Katherine Edwards-White, Will Fox, Shirley Hancock, Jane Hardwick, Jackie Hardy, Mark Heeley,
Mike Hodder, Alstair Hughes-Roden, Anna Jennings, Charlene Jones, Alison Millward, Dave Mitchell, Linda Norbury, Pete Norbury,
Richard Orton, Roger Parkes, Pam Parkes, Anne Parouty, Simon Phipps, Ellen Pisolkar, Mike Poulton, Paul Reade, Mike Smith, Andy
Slater, Danny Squire, Jane Taverner, Tony Thompson, Ian Trueman, Yoke van der Meer, David Wall, John Walton, Monika Walton
Sutton Park Flora: The Results so far:

Map showing the total number of visits per
quarter monad square up to the end of 2016.
The map highlights that part of the park which
needs further survey in 2017 are the golf
course areas.
We’ve also put together these provisional maps based on the species data entered on the database so far. The map on the
left shows the total number of flora species recorded in each square while the map on the right just shows axiophyte*
species
Map showing total species per 1/4 monad square Map showing total axiophytes per 1/4 monad square
*Axiophytes are those species most closely associated with important semi-natural habitat. BSBI has defined axiophytes as follows:
• Species 90% restricted to habitats of nature conservation importance • Species recorded in fewer than 25% of tetrads in a vice-county • Very rare species
should be considered for omission as chance occurrences. See: http://www.bsbi.org.uk/axiophytes
Photographs used throughout mainly taken by Mike Poulton with some taken by Ian Trueman and Simon Phipps
(apologies if we forgot to credit your photograph(s) and please let us know so we can correct it).
Newsletter design by Andy Slater ©EcoRecord
Contact Us
General Enquiries:
To find out more about the society including information on upcoming events and how to get involved please email us
at enquiries@ecorecord.org.uk
Events Bookings:
Ian Trueman: i.c.trueman@wlv.ac.uk
Mike Poulton: Poulton_mike@yahoo.co.uk
B&BC Botanical Society is also on Twitter

Follow us: https://twitter.com/bbcbotsoc | @bbcbotsoc

B&amp;BC Botanical Society Newsletter - Issue 3 (2016)

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B&amp;BC Botanical Society Newsletter - Issue 3 (2016)

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Newsletter Issue 3 | 2016

2016 was certainly an action-

We hope you enjoy reading through it

Plus other highlights from 2016 including

Wren’s Nest & Mons Hill | Fens Pools

SAVE THE DATE!

One to Look Out For: Winterborne Gardens

Photographs were taken by several of the group and Paul

Gillian Barnard and Ann Farr were out enjoying an early

Two questions are raised here: are there any more

His discovery turned out to be not only a

DUDLEY NIGHTSHADE September 2016

This is yet another Dudley site for this relatively

Deadly Nightshade Atropa bella-donna

WRENS NEST AND MONS HILL

Common Spotted-orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsii

Common Gromwell Lithospermum officinale

November 2016 – Girdled Knight

Yellow Bird’s-nest Monotropa hypopytis - Fens Pools

Over the following weeks more plants were found over a

Research on the internet suggests that there is erroneous

Footnote: Towards the end of the summer, yet another Yellow

Royal Fern Osmunda regalis

SUTTON PARK FLORA

The map close to Boldmere Gate illustrates the typical circular

At SP10859597 there are mounds of rubble where Holly Hurst

Hoof Fungus Fomes fomentarius - on dying birch

We soon found the wet woodland, with much Ilex aquifolium

2. Thursday 7th April 2016

On a rather wet day nine of us – including some welcome new

Several of us found out the hard way that there is at least a

Group emerging from woodland near Wyndley Pool

Eventually, we struggled out of the wood at the western end of

3. Saturday 16th April 2016

After waking up to a layer of snow, we were relieved to have a

We followed the Roman Road north and then the northern

View towards Exmoor Pony corral

Here there is much Molinia caerulea Purple Moor-grass,

In SP0889NW we had earlier seen a Muntjac Deer and on our

4. Tuesday 26th April 2016

Nine of us assembled at the Aircraft Modellers’ car park near

Reindeer Lichen Cladonia portentosa

On the way back we followed the same ditch we earlier crossed

Early Dog-violet Viola reichenbachiana

Later we found Viola riviniana Common Dog-violet in early

There were clusters of mostly ruderal species, particularly along

6. Friday 20th May 2016

Eight of us set off from Four Oaks Gate in SP1098NE, mainly to

We soon arrived in SP1098SE. In the eastern margin of the

Surveying old quarry at SP10699825

Garden Yellow Archangel L. galeobdolon subsp. argentatum

We followed the road into SP1097NE, where we hoped to find

was also lesser amounts of E. angustifolium Common

Group examining Round-leaved Water-crowfoot

Round-leaved Water-crowfoot Ranunculus omiophyllus

The area is quite extensive – several hectares – and the range

We pressed north through the mire and eventually struck the

We thrashed about along this ditch in a roughly easterly

Adder’s-tongue Fern Ophioglossum vulgatum

Ophioglossum is a very ancient type of fern – Stace sticks the

Beyond again, we resisted the temptations of the ice cream van

9. Tuesday 21st June 2016

This walk through the wetlands of the Longmoor Valley was a

Drier areas had the usual range of grasses, with Deschampsia

B&BC Botanical Society Newsletter - Issue 3 (2016)

B&BC Botanical Society Newsletter - Issue 3 (2016)