2021 County Report for Nottinghamshire

Mark Woods

The first field meeting that Dave Wood and I have organised, at Toton Sidings, was fully attended and feedback was very favourable.

There was a continuation with tetrad coverage of the county, albeit at a reduced intensity, because coverage is near comprehensive and what remains is gap-filling. Several sites including two SSSIs that have not been surveyed for several decades were visited and to date approximately 15,000 records have been submitted to the VPDB. As usual a significant proportion of the records came from Nottinghamshire Biological Records Centre. Hopefully, the number of records will significantly increase because not all recorders have submitted their records.

A significant amount of effort has been devoted to conservation work following completion of the third edition of the county Rare Plant Register. County Rare / Scarce species have been selected for conservation action in collaboration with Nottingham Trent University, Nottinghamshire Species Reintroduction Forum, Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust and National Seedbank Network. It is early days, but much ground work has been completed.

First records this year include: Rosa agrestis found on former colliery yards by Mark Woods (confirmed by R. Maskew). Lotus hirsutus found by Ken Balkow on a remediated colliery spoil tip. Juncus marginatus found by Dave Wood at Rufford Colliery - thanks to Mike Wilcox for assistance - awaiting confirmation of this taxon from the USA and if confirmed it is probably the first record for the UK. There is also an unconfirmed record for Juncus × surrejanus at Bilsthorpe Colliery Yards.

Second records this year include: Persicaria capitata and Taraxacum pseudohamatum.

More details of these records will be posted on the annual newsletter for the county which will be posted on the county web-page early in the new year.