Hugh Harris: Moore Nature Reserve Species List
Field trip plant list of 180 species in Latin name alphabetic order. The number in the comments column indicates the order in which the plant was seen during the event.
Hugh Harris: Moore Nature Reserve
Ten Liverpool Botanical Society members accompanied by Anne-Marie Belcher, Reserve Warden and Lee Lappin, local naturalist explored the footpaths and bird hides of Moore Nature Reserve and Moss Side. Moore Nature Reserve is situated between the Manchester Ship Canal and the River Mersey. The 186 acres site has been managed as a nature reserve since 1991 after a history of land use for farming and sand quarrying. Today the reserve is surrounded by woodland, meadows and wetlands which provide a rich biodiversity of habitats for birds, mammals, insects, plants, amphibians and fungi. On the day 180 species of wildflowers were recorded.
Anthony Carter: Ainsdale Sand Dunes NNR
Eighteen people attended this popular event held by north West Fungus Group. Starting by the reserve manager’s office, we moved very slowly down to the oak wood which is as far as we got by lunchtime because the fungi were numerous and varied. The paddock produced a couple of new species for the Reserve, Lepiota cortinarius and Psathyrella bipellis. We also found a little brown job, Panaeolus fimicola (Turf Mottlegill), on a little brown job (a rabbit dropping).
The Harlequin Ladybird
The story of the Harlequin is one of good intentions but poor delivery. Brought to the UK as a voracious hunter of ‘pest species’ in greenhouses the Harlequin was introduced as a means of effective #biological control to minimise the use of pesticides. Great! However, apparently poor forethought or containment meant it didn’t take long before this species escaped into the wild.