2022 County Report for Monmouthshire

Stephanie Tyler and Elsa Wood

Annual Report 2022 vc35

We have jointly input 6369 records and received others from the local records centre, SEWBReC. Our focus has been on recording in poorly covered tetrads but also continuing our survey (started in 2021) of plants of arable fields. This year we extended the survey to cover allotments as well. We attended a Bioblitz near Newport organised by SEWBReC and we also led a course for SEWBReC on urban plants, in Abergavenny.

We organised monthly walks for the Monmouthshire Botany Group from April to September though one was cancelled due to the extreme heat.

We continue to work on a revised Rare Plant Register and we have taken out more than 30 species from our previous update as recent records mean that these species are no longer scarce, all having more than 10 records.

The highlights for 2022 have been written up for the SEWBReC newsletter, the next issue of the Welsh Bulletin and BSBI News but a few worth mentioning again are given below:

 

Epipactis leptochila (Narrow-lipped Helleborine)

Re-discovery of Epipactis leptochila (Narrow-lipped Helleborine) on Wyndcliff this was considered to be extinct with no confirmed record since 1926 but a flowering plant was found and photographed by Sarah Clay and Des and Charlotte Evans

Impatiens noli-tangere (Touch-me-not Balsam)

Re-discovery by Colin Titcombe and Chris Hatch of Impatiens noli-tangere (Touch-me-not Balsam) near Piercefield. This was last seen in 1888 by Schoolbred.

Digitaria ishmaeum (Hairy Finger-grass)

This alien grass was found by us in Abergavenny at a pavement edge in August. It is the second vc record, the first being in 1906 at Newport Docks

Misopates orontium (Weasel's Snout)

This cornfield annual was found in allotments at Chepstow, the first record since 1988 other than a naturalised population near Tintern.