2021 County Report for West Gloucestershire

Clive M Lovatt

VC34 West Gloucestershire Annual Report to BSBI - 2021

Covid-19 restrictions were fewer than in 2020 and all but fell away mid-year before the resurgence caused by variants. The Plant Group of the Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Society again did not hold open meetings, but its Bristol equivalent had a few in 2021. Work on Hieracium will be picked up after a workshop can be held in 2022.

21,620 records (2020, 26,870) were added to the BSBI database for 2021. 38% were made in SO60. The impact can be seen on the coverage maps below.

My Avon Gorge Flora reached 561 pages of draft typescript (2020: 282). My draft list for a VC34 rare plant register needs to be re-thought, to make it compatible with the RPR recently drafted for VC33 by the VCR Chris Dixon.

As reported in BSBI News a single flowering stem of Cephalanthera rubra, Red Helleborine was discovered at a site in VC34. As VCR I was asked to verify this unmistakable orchid. A local author has drafted an account of the plant’s history in Britain for eventual publication. Oxybasis glauca, Oak-leaved Goosefoot, unknown in the county since 1956, and then discovered in both VC33 and VC34 by the respective VCRs within a week, created less excitement.

The 2020 Gloucestershire plant report was published in 2021 in The Gloucestershire Naturalist. A PDF offprint is available. The Bristol Naturalists’ Society Bulletin (10 issues), available online, has reports of the meetings held near Bristol in 2021, some new plant records, and notes on Bristol botanists written by the undersigned.

Dr Clive M Lovatt