Section Secretaries |
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| A summer field trip - members at Banque Imbert, Bordeaux. |
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| Winter outing member at Le Grand Pré,
one of our reserves. |
Botany
The Botany Section of La Société Guernesiaise is an active group of some 60 members some of whom live overseas. The latter also receive our monthly newsletter and join our meetings when they are on the island. Regular outdoor meetings are held once a month except for indoor sessions in January and February. Everyone is welcome to attend and we appreciate input on other areas of interest that members can contribute.
The monthly newsletter contains a report of the previous meeting, including the names of plants we saw and other points of interest, as well as notable records of botanical finds, details of forthcoming meetings, important dates etc.
The Section as a whole collects all Bailiwick records for plants, and participates in all important national surveys, providing information to the Botanical Society of the British Isles, the Wild Flower Society, Plantlife, and to many individuals, be they professionals, amateurs or visitors. We also maintain a large herbarium of dried plant specimens, some of which are over 200 years old, the most recent added a few weeks ago. This collection can be available to anyone for study purposes.
The aim of the outings is to explore the rich variety of habitats that the island offers so we can enjoy botany and its associated wildlife. We study trees and lower plants as well as our familiar native wild flowers. We may see rarities as well as the many alien plants that have settled here. One thing is for certain, there is always plenty to see!
Programme of Events
| Botany Section Outing - Baubigny Marais |
| Saturday 7th August 14:15 |
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The Botany Section will look at wet fields and swamp on private land at Baubigny. Meet at the old vinery site behind Les Marais, Baubigny Road, parking available, at 2.15 pm for a 2.30 pm start. Perry's P.10B4. |
| Botany Section outing - Bordeaux |
| Saturday 4th September 14:15 |
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The Botany Section will look at the coast, beach and shingle and small islands at the north side of Bordeaux. Meet at north car park, Bordeaux at 2.15 pm for a 2.30 pm start. Perry's P.11H1. |
| Botany Section outing - Port Soif Nature Trail |
| Saturday 2nd October 14:15 |
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The Botany Section will meet at the Port Soif Nature trail to have a look at waste land and short turf. Meet at Port Soif car park at 2.15 pm for a 2.30 pm start at Perry's P.8B1. |
| Botany Section outing - L'Erée shingle bank and Lihou Causeway |
| Saturday 6th November 14:15 |
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The Botany Section will go to L'Erée shingle bank and the lane to Lihou to look at shingle, ferns and lichens. Meet at 2.15 pm for a 2.30 pm start car park at W end of Shingle Bank, Perry's P.12B5. |
| Botany Section outing - Les Vauxbelets |
| Saturday 4th December 14:15 |
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The Botany Section will meet at Les Vauxbelets to have a look at the trees, fungus and lichens there. Meet at the Little Chapel car park at 2.15 pm for a 2.30 pm start at Perry's P.23E4. |
Autumn Observations - 2008
Autumn colour has been quite good until leaves were torn down by our customary strong winds. The yellow carotenoid pigments were attractively showy as the green chlorophyll was withdrawn into the trees for use next year.Ivy – Hedera helix ssp hibernica began flowering rather early, in September, but fruit has set in plenty and will be a good source of food for birds in winter. The hedging shrub – Elaeagnus macrophylla has been scenting the air with its fragrant white flowers and the green berries are setting. These will mature to form silvery-scarlet berries becoming another target for hungry birds which will eat the fruit and thus disperse the woody seeds inside.
The naturalised Cyclamen hederifolium corms have made a good display on several hedge banks and particularly under the Pines at the Odeon car park near the post boxes.
The Polypody fern – Polypodium interjectum, often seen creeping along the tops of walls, has bright golden sporing bodies on the underside of its fronds and are worth examining with a x10 lens.
Leaves of Alexanders – Smyrnium olusatrum are well developed ready to flower in early spring as these plants from the Mediterranean often do. Seedlings are abundant too. The foliage of Large Lords-and-Ladies – Arum italicum is very obvious but A. maculatum will not emerge until early spring.
Odd plants of Three-cornered Leek – Allium triquetrum were in flower as early as September. Primroses and Dog Violets have been observed too. The annual Sea Rocket – Cakile maritima has flowered, fruited and died so it was amazing to find a second generation in full bloom, as well as new seedlings, at Pecqueries Bay in the first week of November.
Winter Heliotrope – Petasites fragrans will produce its scented pinkish flowers well before Christmas so it is worth looking for. In the early nineteenth century this plant was introduced from Italy to be used as a pot plant but was subsequently discarded out of doors in the spring. It has spread as we well know. The multi-headed Tazetta narcissi which are wild in Sardinia were much used here in the cut-flower trade. These heavily-fragrant flowers are a welcome addition to our hedge-banks and both the yellow and white varieties will be a delight to see during the coming winter months.
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Autumn colour in Hornbeam at the Reservoir
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Ivy being pollinated on Icart headland
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Cyclamen hederifolium beside Odeon car park
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Polypody on a wall in St Peter Port
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Narcissus tazetta near Fort Le Crocq early
2008
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Sea Rocket and seedlings at Pecqueries
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Winter Heliotrope in St Andrew's last spring |
Elaeagnus macrophylla with its fragrant flowers
near Portelet |
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A liverwort, Fossombronia anglosa, and its sporophyte. This
is abundant in Guernsey. |
A brown seaweed,
Laminaria ochroleuca, in a rock pool at Saints Harbour. |
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| A bracket
fungus, Inonotus dryadeus, on Turkey Oak at the Priaulx Library |
Oyster Mushroom, Pleurotus
ostreatus, on a palm tree in Charles David's garden |
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| Teloschistes
flavicans, a bright yellow lichen, which is very rare in mainland
Britain, only found on one site on the cliffs in Guernsey |
The lichen Ramalina
fastigiata, on Blackthorn in Herm |
Candie Gardens, St Peter Port, Guernsey GY1 1UG, Channel Islands.
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