2023 County Report for East Norfolk
Bob Ellis
Nineteen Norfolk Flora Group meetings were held in VC27: some were held to fill gaps in the systematic survey of the county, seven of which focussed on clusters of monads which had fewer than 25 records; three identification workshops were held, looking at Taraxacum, Ulmus and Populus; one 'Introduction to Wild Flower Identification' meeting was held in conjunction with the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society; a meeting was arranged in conjunction with Norfolk Wildlife Trust which included some County Wildlife Sites and the remainder involved recording specific sites.
Over 10,000 VC27 records have been collated for 2023 so far.
Several interesting finds were made in 2023. Myosurus minimus (Mousetail) was found in a locality where it was previously unknown. Two locations for Carex diandra (Lesser Tussock-sedge) were discovered, the one near Holt seems not to have been recorded previously and the second at Southrepps had not been recorded since Rev. E.F. Linton found it in the same parish in the latter half of the 19th Century, presumably at the same location. In both instances the populations seen were very small. The neophytes Amaranthus blitum (Guernsey Pigweed) and Rumex cristatus (Greek Dock), along with several casual garden escapes were recorded for the first time in the vice-county. Lathyrus hirsutus (Hairy Canary-clover) and Centaurea solstitialis (Yellow Star-thistle) were recorded for the first time since 1975 (when they were both reported in the supplement to the 1968 Flora by C.P. Petch & E.L. Swann) though the latter had been known in the vice-county since well before that.