I thought I would spend a couple of hours on 3rd September 2021 recording the variety of strandline plants north of Ainsdale-on-Sea.This habitat is the best I have seen for at least ten years.
Dr Phil Smith: Wildlife notes August 2021
My month with nature started well when Joyce and David Jarvis showed me two flowering Broad-leaved Helleborines at Ainsdale National Nature Reserve. I hadn’t seen this orchid on the Sefton Coast since 2008. Other notable plants during the month included a small colony of Whorl-grass that I found on a freshwater seepage zone on Hightown...
Dr Phil Smith: Wildlife notes July 2021
Extreme heatwaves and prolonged spring and summer droughts are a predicted consequence of climate change. Fortunately, most of our sand-dune specialist flora and fauna seem able to cope at present, being adapted to life in harsh conditions. A loud hum preceded the arrival of two enormous, tropical-looking insects that crashed into the grass a few...
Dr Phil Smith: Wildlife notes June 2021
Following one of the wettest Mays on record, June turned out to be one of the driest, with sparse rainfall on only four days. Fortunately, the damp weather in May and a legacy of the wet winter meant that the impact of the drought on duneland plants was less than it might have been. Nevertheless,...