Ed Dolphin

Some people dream of living on the beach, but not if you are a plant.

While spring flowers, early bumblebees and courting birds attract attention at this time of year, the humble but fascinating lichens just get on with doing their thing.

Laying Down For Nature - Ed Dolphin writes for the Sid Valley Biodiversity Group

The Sid Valley Biodiversity Group is engaged in a project to help improve the health of our river.

Autumn has been stretched out this year with some of our trees only just preparing to drop their leaves as November marches towards winter.

Should we all be rushing out and putting solar panels on our business rooves in preparation for the winter?

Spring has given way to mid-summer and nature’s floral display has moved on. One group of plants that come into flower at this time of year are the Hypericum species, St John’s-wort. There are about a dozen UK species living in habitats from woodland to heath and even bogs. They all have five petalled yellow flowers with clusters of orange tipped stamens. They range from the Rose of Sharon shrub with its 7-8cm flowers down to the tiny 1cm stars of Trailing St John’s-wort.

The SVA’s Knapp Nature Reserve is flourishing. A group of expert botanists and lichenologists from the Devonshire Association visited recently and recorded over 200 different flowering plants, plus a lichen that has only been recorded in Devon twice before. Although there was a rich diversity, the botanists cautioned that perhaps we need to look at our management programme.

The grass verge between the roads at the Bowd is bursting into flower thanks to co-operation between the Sid Valley Biodiversity Group and Sidmouth Town Council which is great news for local insects.

Grey Squirrels were introduced from North America to Britain in the nineteenth century.