2022 County Report for VC1a

Rosemary Parslow & Liz Askins

It has not been easy to get to Scilly for the past couple of years so most plant recording has
been by Liz Askins who is resident on the islands.

Liz has been systematically recording arable weeds on two farms on St Mary’s, which she
started in 2021 and has been carrying out at regular intervals. With the major downturn in
bulb farming on the islands the recording of the associated bulb field weed species is now
very important.

Possibly due to increased management work several iconic plants have spread on wetland
sites.

In early December Rosemary Parslow was able to visit the small island of St Agnes with a
group of staff and volunteers from the IOS Wildlife Trust. The object was to demonstrate
how to monitor Ophioglossum lusitanicum which is only found on Scilly and Guernsey.
Although 100 ferns were counted, few fertile fronds were found, most of which had already
shed their spores unusually early. Is this an indication of climate change?