Chalk grassland surveys

I spent some very pleasant mornings in July counting wildflowers on the South Downs with some like-minded people.

Spotting chalk loving wildflowers at Crowlink

The chalk grassland surveys were carried out by Seaford Natural History Society in association with the National Trust. These are carried out across numerous fields near the Seven Sisters cliffs every year.

We were given a list of good and bad plants to look out for. On our first meeting near Crowlink car park, we all got to grips with the species lists. I was the only newbie, so had to be shown a few of the plants that I wasn’t familiar with. The field we were in was a very good example of chalk grassland, so we found many of the species on the list present. I personally wouldn’t try to ID a plant that wasn’t in flower unless I was very familiar with it, but there were a couple of very experienced amateur botanists among us who could (for example Hairy Violet and Cowslip flower in spring not summer).

Chalk grassland indicator species

Bird’s foot Trefoil – Lotus corniculatus
Carline Thistle – Carlina vulgaris
Common Rock Rose – Helianthemum nummularium
Cowslip – Primula veris
Dropwort – Filipendula vulgaris
Devil’s-bit Scabious – Succisa pratensis
Eyebright – Euphrasia
Fairy Flax – Linum catharticum
Field Scabious – Knautia arvensis
Gentians – including Gentianella amarella
Greater Knapweed – Centaurea scabiosa
Hairy Violet – Viola hirta
Kidney Vetch – Anthyllis vulneraria
Lady’s Bedstraw – Galium verum
Marjoram – Origanum vulgare
Milkwort – Polygala vulgaris
Mouse-ear Hawkweed – Pilosella officinarum
Orchids
Ox-eye Daisy – Leucanthemum vulgare
Restharrow – Ononis repens
Rough/Lesser Hawkbit – Leontodon
Salad Burnet – Sanguisorba minor
Small Scabious – Scabiosa columbaria
Squinancywort – Asperula cynanchica
Stemless Thistle – aka Dwarf Thistle – Cirsium acaule
Wild Basil – Clinopodium vulgare
Wild Thyme – Thymus polytrichus
Yellow-wort – Blackstonia perfoliata

Undesirable species

Broad-leaved Dock – Rumex obtusifolius
Curled Dock – Rumex crispus
Creeping Thistle – Cirsium arvense
Common Ragwort – Senecio jacobaea
Common Nettle – Urtica dioica
Tor Grass – Brachypodium pinnatum

Wildflowers spotted

None of my pics on this page relate to the lists! This is because I was too busy identifying wildflowers to photograph them. But we found Dropwort, Lady’s Bedstraw, Squinancywort, Bird’s-foot Trefoil, Fairy Flax, Salad Burnet, Milkwort, Restharrow, Hairy Violet leaves, Stemless Thistle and others from the list. (Don’t worry, I wasn’t in charge of record keeping!).

Walking back to the carpark we found this unusual Horehound, Marrubium vulgare which was pointed out by Chris, one of the botanists.

white horehound detail marrubium vulgare Crowlink Sussex Jul 2021 — White horehound – *Marrubium vulgare* – Crowlink Sussex – Jul 2021

He also identified this thistle for me, which wasn’t one I’d noticed before.

Musk or Nodding thistle Carduus nutans Crowlink Sussex Jul 2021 — Musk or Nodding thistle – *Carduus nutans* – Crowlink Sussex – Jul 2021

The main image at the top of the page is Clustered Bellflower, Campanula glomerata which I saw in various places in the summer of 2021.

I made it my mission for the next month or so to photograph as many flowers as possible from the chalk grassland indicator species list. You will see them on the next few pages:

Chalk grassland surveys Part 2

Chalk grassland surveys Part 3

Fourth and final day counting flowers at Gayles Farm

Cradle Valley Seaford

Seaford Head in August and the same nature reserve again in late August.