2022 County Report for Co. Waterford

Ann Trimble, Andrew Malcolm, Julie Larkin

It wasn’t until June that the 3 of us were inducted as VCRs for County Waterford so it’s been a steep but enjoyable learning curve so far. As it was quite late in the year and we were total novices in the role we didn’t organise any field trips in 2022 but plan on doing so in 2023.
In July we met Paul Green with several other enthusiasts and together we accompanied two fern experts from the UK, Alison Evans and Roger Golding who had found a number of interesting specimens in our locality several years previously. They showed us various Dryopteris species, all of which were new to us.
In late August Ann accompanied Paul Green into the Comeraghs on the hunt for Recurved Sandwort Minuartia recurva and Alpine Clubmoss Diphasiastrum alpinum both of which were successfully recorded after quite a long trek!
In September Ann and Julie joined Paul and several other BSBI members on Tramore Backstrand for a training outing where the highlights were Eelgrasses Zostera, Salicornia species, Atriplex species, Beaked Tasselweed Ruppia maritima and Golden Samphire Inula crithmoides.

Epipactis phyllanthes (green-flowered helleborine)

A new species for H6. After initially finding 5 plants, the 3 VCRs found 48 plants alongside the road verge bordering Dromana Woods near Villierstown on a later more extensive follow up search.