Fritillary
Fritillary 2
The Wildlife of the Three Counties
Millennium edition
The content of this issue recognises the loss of wildlife as a result of widely publicised changes in land-use during the latter part of the 20th century and the changing attitudes following the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992. In this volume there are articles on rare and widespread plants, fish, birds and snails.
Contents
- The flora of the Oxford Ring Road by Caroline Jackson-Houlston
- Meadow dandelions by Alison McDonald
- The wild celery story by Ann Cole
- The native grape hyacinth by Jo Dunn
- Fish Rescue by Darren Bedworth
- Farmland birds of Oxfordshire in the twentieth century by Phil Barnett
- Farmland flowers by Susanna Kay
- Status and distribution of molluscs by Steve Gregory
Though the hard copy of this volume is still available, we have now made the papers available online; see below. Note that the page numbering differs between the printed version and the online version, the latter having been completely reformatted.
Contents
- Cover
Originally published December 2000. Published online November 2023
- Editorial
A. W. McDonald
Originally published December 2000. Published online May 2023
- The Flora of the Oxford Ring Road
C. M. Jackson-Houlston
Originally published December 2000. Published online May 2023
Summary...This paper presents the results of a large-scale snapshot survey of the flora of the Oxford Ring Road verges. It argues for their value as a resource for public acquaintance with a variety of higher plants. Although it is often supposed that verges contain only what are publicly perceived as weeds, and although such species are well represented in the survey, I demonstrate that the majority of the plants represent a wide range of settled habitat communities. The richness of the verge flora depends on the continuing presence of relict woodland, grassland and even wetland sites, in spite of the pressures generated by the construction and management of a major road. The survey was undertaken in 1990; it is up-dated by comments on the changes in the dynamic verge system. - Meadow Dandelions near Oxford
A.W. McDonald
Originally published December 2000. Published online May 2023
Summary...Almost 30 years ago A.J. Richards published a report on ‘Dandelions of the Oxford Meads’ (Richards1971). My interest in dandelions was kindled when I discovered this paper as I began my study of Picksey Mead in 1981. Later the same year I met Richard Pankhurst of the British Museum. We walked across Oxey and West Mead, Yarnton and we talked about species identification, including dandelions which he was collecting at that time. I was fascinated by the idea of asexual seed production and of mother-daughter lines or ‘seed clones’ each of which could be recognised as a micro-species. Richards and others have been specialising in these taxa. They have increased the knowledge of them in Britain from 132 species in 1972 (Richards 1971) to 235, including c.90 non-native species, in 1997 with some 30,000 records. Identifying them, however, is a problem. Dudman & Richards (1997) list no less than 13 ‘golden rules’ to help sort out the difficulties related to phenotypic plasticity or changes in leaf shape and colour due to different soils, moisture stress, shade, grazing or age. - Marcham, merece and the Wild Celery Story
A. Cole
Originally published December 2000. Published online May 2023
Summary...The reappearance of the wild celery (Apium graveolens L.) at Marcham, Oxfordshire (GR SU 454961) after an interval of nearly thirty years caused a stir not only among local botanists but also among the place-name fraternity. Place names often contain names of crops, trees, rushes and reeds, but names for wild flowers are not common unless the plant is either useful or distinctive in some way. When I heard in 1998 that the wild celery had reappeared at Marcham, a name which means “wild celery flood meadow” (Old English merece-hamm) my curiosity was aroused. - Grape Hyacinth (Muscari neglectum Guss. Ex. Ten.) in Oxfordshire
A. J. Dunn
Originally published December 2000. Published online May 2023
Summary...Muscari neglectum (M. atlanticum Boiss. & Reuter, M. racemosum Lam. & DC. Non (L.) Miller) is a member of the family Liliaceae. A perennial, it is native throughout southern Europe to northern France, parts of Germany, south-central Russia and North Africa, where its habitats, in a variety of soils, include heaths, pastures, waysides, Rhenish vineyards, and rocky places up to 2200m on Mount Olympus in Greece. (Strid 1980). - The Environment Agency Rescues Stranded Fish at Port Meadow, Oxford
D. Bedworth
Originally published December 2000. Published online November 2023
Summary...Thousands of healthy fish that faced certain death as flood waters receded from Port Meadow, were rescued by the fisheries department of the Environment Agency on the 8th June 2000. The agency had been alerted to the problem by a member of the public. This stretch of the Thames is a valuable fishery and the Agency has a responsibility to protect the fish populations within it. - The State of Oxfordshire’s Breeding Birds, and the Impact of Agricultural Intensification
P. R. Barnett
Originally published December 2000. Published online November 2023
Summary...Nationally, agricultural intensification has led to substantial changes in the countryside, with a wide-scale loss in farmland biodiversity; for instance, since the 1970s, farmland bird populations have declined markedly in the UK. This is also the case in Oxfordshire; although the number of breeding species increased in Oxfordshire in the 20th century, several species are declining or extinct. More species associated with farmland are declining compared to other habitat types. Also, more species associated with farmland have become extinct; of 14 species that became extinct in Oxfordshire in the 20th century, 12 occurred on farmland to some extent and seven of these, like the Corncrake Crex crex, were farmland specialists. These species are discussed in detail. Farmland species are therefore the highest conservation concern in the county. - Terrestrial Mollusca in Oxfordshire: Current Status and Distributional Changes since the Nineteenth Century of some Species
S. J. Gregory
Originally published December 2000. Published online November 2023
Summary...Terrestrial mollusca (slugs and snails) are among the most well worked invertebrate taxa in Oxfordshire with records dating back to the early nineteenth century. Since the mid 1980’s surveys have determined the current status and distribution of species occurring in this county. Ninety species have been recorded and over 20,000 site-based records are held on the Oxfordshire Biological Records Centre (OBRC) database. Many molluscs have precise habitat requirements and the current status and distribution of selected species characteristic of ancient woodland, wetland, calcicolous grassland and man-made habitats is compared to that given in older texts. There has been little change in the known range of characteristic woodland and wetland species across the county, although the lack of sensitivity of the methodology may mask localised changes. Oxfordshire has proved to be an important refuge for a number of key species including four UK BAP species. Several species of calcicolous grassland have shown clear twentieth century declines, particularly Helicella itala and Helicigona lapicida, and factors other than habitat loss seem to be at play. Many species associated with man were unknown to early recorders, but are now well established and continue to expand across the county. These trends follow those reported nationally. - Rare Arable Flowers in the Oxford Heights
S. Kay
Originally published December 2000. Published online November 2023
Summary...From 1996 to 1998, rare arable plants were surveyed within 290 fields from 37 farms in the Oxford Heights. Twenty-one target species were recorded from a list of 51 arable flower species which are thought to be rare or to have declined in Oxfordshire. In general, arable plant species have declined in the area in recent years, with species such as corn chamomile (Anthemis arvensis) and corn buttercup (Ranunculus arvensis) now very rare indeed. The sandy soils supported the richest arable plant communities and many target species were entirely restricted to this soil type. The crop types most favourable to rare arable flowers were spring crops. The conservation of rare arable flowers is discussed in relation to the findings of the research.