Lucerne fields

Feeling refreshed after a relatively quiet day, I headed north to survey some under-recorded tetrads round Temple Bruer. The weather was warm, but with heavy grey clouds and an ever present threat of rain. It was an interesting and rewarding day. The highlight was finding an extensive stretch of limestone road verge that still supported a species-rich flora, probably because it is mown more frequently than some of the other nearby verges, which are becoming rank and  scrub invaded. The flora included the usual species of limestone verges that can tolerate some neglect - Bird's-foot-trefoil, Field Scabious and Chalk Knapweed - but also had a good scattering of less common species that are now usually only found in grazed sites such as Small Scabious, Rock-rose, Salad Burnet, Quaking Grass and Meadow Oat-grass. The most surprising find was Bloody Crane's-bill which is sometimes recorded as a garden escape, but looked very native here.

Other highlights of the day were a derelict farm overgrown with plants include a fine stand of White Melilot, Temple Bruer Preceptory (one of the few Knight's Templar sites left in England where any ruins remain standing) and several fields of Lucerne (also known as Alfalfa) which smelled heavenly and would have been even more spectacular if the sky hadn't been so sullenly grey-white..