Hazel Graves writes:
The Sowter Memorial Evening commenced with a tribute to one of the Section’s early members Frederick Sowter, F.L.S. (1899-1972), a very important botanist in the fields of bryology, lichenology and flowering plants, especially in VC55. He was also extremely active and influential in the developing field of conservation. A full tribute to Sowter is available on the website, including the introduction to “Our Diminishing Flora” published in 1960. The subject of this evening’s talk seems particularly suitable for this event.
Ivan Pedley started by demonstrating a twig with several colonies of Fuscidia lightfootii, a crustose bright green lichen that was rare in VC55 until about 6 years ago, but now increasing with the advent of cleaner air. Another large twig was displayed by Hazel Graves, showing a fructicose (shrubby) lichen in the Usnea genus plus a covering of green foliose lichens (unfortunately too wet to identify) and two types of slime moulds, one grey/black and one yellow, both unidentified. The samples were taken by other members to identify. The grey/black slime mould has since been identified by Ivan Pedley as Cribraria argillacea.
Lichens and slime moulds described in the text above
Peter Smith noted that he had seen about 30 crows in Abbey Park, an unusual sighting as crows tend to be solitary in contrast to flocking rooks. Peter also noted unusual behaviour in a pair of courting mallards whose display involved whistling.
Geoffrey then gave a most interesting and illuminating presentation. While recording in VC55 for the BSBI 2020 Atlas he had noticed that there were two types of plants that were diminishing: arable weeds and wetland plants. It is acknowledged that modern farming practices have reduced the prevalence of arable weeds, but why are wetland plants so much in retreat? Geoffrey discussed this, illustrating which wetland plants were most in retreat and which are actually more abundant - generally the more robust ones that grow larger with the stimulus of more nitrogen in the environment, shading out the more sensitive ones. He discussed the various types of wetland habitat and the man-made problems being caused to them, including agricultural practices, urban development, lack of management, invasive plants and climate change. He also noted that there are new ponds being established which sometimes rebound with species hiding in the seedbank or are brought in naturally. Although the current scenario of wetland plant loss is very worrying, the good news is that with better understanding and better management action could be taken to remedy some of the loss. The Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Group has projects improving the River Soar. It is imperative to get farmers on board with any project designed to resurrect the quality of our ponds, rivers, streams, marshes etc. Ponds would probably be the easiest with quickest returns.
There were many questions following the presentation: balancing of habitat management for different species, advice for small volunteer organisations, who managed wetlands in the past, Flood Meadows in VC55, the role of the Canals and Rivers Trust and monitoring of the many Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) established in new build areas.
(Photo: Hazel Graves)
