It was a very special botany outing last night (20th May), I don’t suppose I shall ever go to survey a wet meadow again and unexpectedly find Anacamptis laxiflora Jersey Orchid. And that is what happened last night, we found 3 spikes of Jersey Orchid hidden in the long grass. I had hoped one day we might find Jersey Orchid there because in 2022 the National Trust donated green hay to the Pre Arthur Trust and spread it on the meadow. But I never expected Orchids to appear in only 3 years after the hay had been introduced to the field.
We found more of the protected plant Oenanthe fistulosa Tubular Water-dropwort than I had seen before. It was a pleasure to wander through the meadow and not see masses of Oenanthe crocata Hemlock water-dropwort. There was a lovely stand of Alopecurus pratensis Meadow Foxtail and lots of Glyceria fluitans Floating Sweet-grass.
Thank you to those of you who joined the party of 20 WFS botanists who visited the Island last week, it was a very successful visit with many interesting finds.
For more information on our Botany Section, please contact botany@societe.je
