Bristol Naturalists' Society

February

SALISBURY PLAIN Monday 20th February
Speakers: Sharon Pilkington
Salisbury Plain is the largest remaining expanse of semi-natural chalk grassland in NW Europe and supports many rare and notable species of plant and animal. It is also a very busy military training estate and because of this, it is not widely known by naturalists.Sharon is Wiltshire’s county recorder and a professional botanist and has spent 8 years getting to know the special wildlife and habitats of the plain. She will take us on a lavishly-illustrated tour of its plants and bryophytes and will show how military training activities and management often benefit its wildlife.

March

PLANTS OF THE DRAWDOWN ZONE Monday 26th March
Speaker: Dr Camilla Lambrick
Camilla read botany at university and subsequently spent two years in Papua New Guinea studying ant-plant symbiosis before undertaking a PhD on their taxonomy. She is a member of a Rare Plants Group which is part of the Ashmolean Natural History Society of Oxfordshire.
This Rare Plants Group has been studying three species that grow in contrasting habitats in the flood zone of the rivers Thames and Ray. Creeping marshwort grows in grazing pasture, Fen Violet grows in hay meadows, whilst Grass poly grows in the edge of arable fields. All three appear to favour periodic flooding and have various strategies to survive it. She has also been helping to prepare a Rare Plants Register for the Oxfordshire. This will be an illustrated talk.