Recently Dr M and colleague @RNGBotany plus University of Reading MSc Plant Diversity students loaded the #BotanyBus2015 and headed south from Reading for the annual Plant Diversity field course, the eXtreme botanical excitement was palpable!
This year the #BotanyBus took a two week trip to some of south-west England’s finest botanical hotspots from Hampshire through Dorset and Devon all the way to the Eden Project and our final destination, the glorious Lizard District of Cornwall – Britain’s most southerly botanical hotspot!
- Ancient woodland at Roydon Woods NNR in the New Forest.
- Heathland and bog of the Poole Basin at Studland and Godlingston Heath NNR.
- Sand dunes of the Poole Basin at Studland SSSI.
- Chalk downland at Lulworth Cove at Purbeck Ridge SSSI and coastal scenery and shingle vegetation at Chesil Beach SSSI.
- Upland vegetation in Dartmoor National Park, and bryophyte and lichen-rich ancient woodland at Wistman’s Wood NNR.
- Botanical and horticultural extravaganza at the Eden project.
- Coastal cliffs and vegetation from Kennack Sands to Cadgwith.
- Plant communities and botanical rarities of serpentine cliffs from Lizard Village to Lizard Point.
- Cliff crevice, grassland and heath communities of very exposed sea cliffs at Kynance Cove.
Dr M says: Check drmgoeswild.com for posts covering the twelve days of eXtreme botany featuring, well-worn books of Stace and veg key! How many NVC communities and plant species did we accrue by the end? Watch this botanical space!