Wood Spurge

After an early morning dash into Peterborough to buy a christening present, I drove to Grimsthorpe Park to meet the ranger and record plants in one of the estate woodlands that hadn't been visited since 2000. We had a very pleasant time, and managed to find many interesting species, including a small population of pill sedge, a species of acid soils that's decidedly scarce in South Lincolnshire and hadn't previously been known from this part of the county.

On my way back home, I decided to drop into Bourne Woods, a FC woodland with many well-surfaced trails. Although much of it has been re-plante, it retains a very rich flora, with many species indicative of ancient woodland, including a large population of wood spurge. The native wood spurge is a species of southern woodlands, and is only found in a few of the larger woodlands in the south-west corner of Lincolnshire, where it makes a fine show at this time of year and is very attractive to a range of insects.