2022 County Report for Flintshire

Emily Meilleur and Gail Quartly-Bishop

The Flintshire BSBI group enjoyed six field meetings in 2022, visiting a variety of sites in search of old records of rare and interesting plants. A May visit to Halkyn Mountain was especially successful thanks to Mavis Midgeley’s local knowledge. We got soaked by power shower rain while admiring Platanthera species (butterfly orchids) at Pantymwyn Pastures in June – definitely worth it ! In August, a trip to woodlands near Hendre refound Epipactis helleborine (broad-leaved helleborine) and E. phyllanthes (green-flowered helleborine), which had not been seen since 1999 and 1985 respectively. We also found a bonus population of herb Paris (Paris quadrifolia) and an enormous ancient elm tree (Ulmus glabra), pictured.

Meanwhile, Lorna Bointon found wild service tree (Sorbus torminalis) near Tremeirchion and native black poplar (Betula nigra ssp betulifolia) near Bodfari. Liam Blazey found another veteran native black poplar near Flint Mountain. The year’s top recorder was, once again, Jonathan Shanklin.
Thank you to everyone who contributed records in 2022. We hope to see you all for more adventures in 2023, when we will be continuing our search for rare and interesting plants, starting with a quest for Lathraea species (toothwort) and Narcissus pseudonarcissus ssp pseudonarcissus (wild daffodils) near Treuddyn in March.