2022 County Report for East Norfolk

Bob Ellis

2022 was the first full season of recording for the Norfolk Flora Group since the onset of Covid. Unfortunately the long period of summer drought meant that many meetings were not as productive as might have been expected. Of the 15 meetings in VC27 (one was cancelled), some were held to fill gaps in the systematic survey of the county (otherwise NFG systematic surveys concentrated on VC28). Two workshops were held on Taraxacum (Dandelion) identification; two meetings focused on Anacamptis morio (Green-winged Orchid) and Genista tinctoria (Dyer's Greenweed, where we recorded associate species in quadrats at many of their sites; one meeting recorded county wildlife site woodlands and three were held on private estates. A Cotoneaster workshop was held towards the end of the season.

We continue to survey county wildlife sites both as individuals and as a group, in conjunction with Norfolk Wildlife Trust.

Over 6,000 records have been collated for 2022 so far, with at least 2,000 more awaiting data entry.

After we finish systematic recording in 2024, an update to the Norfolk Flora is planned hopefully for 2025 or 2026. We will of course continue recording after 2024 but only particularly interesting finds in the following year will be included in the 'snapshot' for the Flora update.
Perhaps the most interesting find in 2022 was Orchis anthropophora (Man Orchid); three spikes were discovered in May near the western edge of Norwich. This is the first record for VC27 since 1950, when it was last seen in a chalk pit near Holt and where it had been known since 1928. Let's hope it persists as long here.