More new species and flower strategies

I have two more new species to add for our site. Neither is unusual and both fall into the category of probably-been-here-all-along-but-not-identified-before. They are Wall Speedwell (Veronica arvensis) and Sticky Mouse-ear (Cerastium glomeratum). Wall Speedwell is the seventh speedwell on site and they are all currently in flower. I probably just missed it before as the flowers are so tiny. Sticky Mouse-ear is here in some abundance and so is Common Mouse-ear this year. There was much less Mouse-ear previously and so I suspect I may well have missed Sticky Mouse-ear by assuming it was Common Mouse-ear. There is however a clear difference in the look of the flower clusters once you get to know it. The top picture is Common and the one below is Sticky. It is interesting to note the swings in abundance of many different flowers which I put down to a combination of their different strategies and the management regime we are now applying. In particular I am now micro-managing the cutting cycle and allowing specific areas to bloom to the end of August or even later which means that species that might have previously struggled to disperse much seed are now getting an opportunity to do so. Last year I noticed a huge increase in Greater Bird's Foot Trefoil as one example. However the many-fold increase in Mouse-ears this year can't be to do with the timing of the cutting as it flowers relatively early. I particularly like the Yellow Rattle strategy which seems to be to colonise the immediate area intensely so it is pretty much pure Yellow Rattle (helped by parisitising the grass) whilst dispersing a few outliers to create new concentrations. The outliers which have grass to feed on and space and light to develop produce much stronger individuals which can then presumably flower and seed strongly and start their own 'Rattle-only' areas.

New plant species

I particularly like adding to the species list for The Beeches. Last year we had four new flowers all of them delightful - Ragged Robin, Eyebright, Red Bartsia and Marsh Bedstraw. The extent to which these have been on site all along and have only just been recorded by me or whether the management regime or weather conditions are allowing existing seeds to germinate successfully or indeed whether the seeds have blown in - I have no real idea. However I certainly think I would have spotted Ragged Robin had it flowered in the previous two years we have been here but potentially I might have missed the other lower profile flowers. I would like to think that it is the management regime that is making the difference. This year we have already two new plant species - Coltsfoot and Spring Sedge. The Coltsfoot grew on the stone chips making up the parking area and is likely to have blown in but the Spring Sedge might fall into the category of 'here all along but not recorded before'. It is fairly low key and hides amongst the many thousands of plants of Field Woodrush, Ribwort Plantain and Sweet Vernal Grass that are all in flower at the same time. Having found a few spikes in one field, I then searched closely in the damper areas of a second field and found a dozen or so spikes eventually. The fact I had missed them initially in the second field suggest they have been here all along but just not recorded previously. The picture above shows Spring Sedge in front of some out-of-focus Lousewort.