Marsh Speedwell

I braved gales and thunderstorms to co-lead a joint meeting of the  South Lincs Flora Group and Lincolnshire Naturalists' Union at Doddington Hall, a privately owned estate just west of Lincoln which is carrying out an exciting Wilding project. As I drove up the A1 through an extensive and torrential downpour I did wonder whether I was doing the right thing!

We were welcomed to the estate with home-baked cakes and coffee and then headed off to record plants in an area of former damp heathland currently used for growing Christmas trees, and then a field with some rather nice species-rich grassland. It was good to chat with the project manager and suggest some options for restoring both areas to optimum condition. Luckily there was only one relatively brief thundery shower, and most of the time we had sunshine, albeit with blustery winds.

We ended up recording over 175 species including the very delicate Marsh Speedwell which was not previously known from the site, and was last recorded in South Lincolnshire in 2014. Other exciting species included Tubular Water-dropwort, Water-purslane, Hard Fern, Trailing Tormentil and the bramble Rubus hylocharis, which has old historical records from the general area but has not been recorded for many years.