After all the Facebook chitter chatter and mouthwatering pics of rare plants, Graeme Lyons decided he couldn't hold out any longer and asked for a tour of the New Forest specialities. No problemo, let's face it - he's shown me enough goodies in the past. This would be my turn to treat him to a few lifers. First up though, have a read of Graeme's account of the day on his blog at http://analternativenaturalhistoryofsussex.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/new-forest-gump.html

We met in the White Swan car park next to the Itchen River. Still loads of the metallic blue Alder Leaf Beetles (Agelastica alni) all over the alders here, they're a really rare beastie down this way and even Jonty Denton hasn't seen one yet. Anywhere! We had a quick peek into the river in search of Salmon, but couldn't see anything convincing amongst the 50 or so Sea/Brown Trout (Salmo trutta morphs trutta and fario) resting up in the shallows. Most were around the 18" size with a few smaller individuals mixed in. This is where I had my 3 Salmon a few weeks back, but not today. We did see plenty of Gudgeon (Gobio gobio) and a few Minnows (Phoxinus phoxinus) further downstream, plus I showed Graeme his first Greater Plantain Mildew (Golovinomyces sordidus) and Dandelion Mildew (Sphaerotheca erigerontis-canadensis). Back at the carpark Graeme leapt into my van and we drove off to properly start our wee adventure.

Graeme occasionally suffers from "burn-out", or as I prefer to say, he gets physically and mentally fkkd. He arrived pretty knackered and I had to feel sorry for me ol'  buddy in arms. We've both been through the mill a bit lately and quite a lot of our conversation was non-nature related. Until we arrived at Kimbridge that is. Then it was straight down to business. Yet more fishy business as it transpired...

First up was a quick stroll across fields, through woodland and down to a river for a few odd plants. Graeme immediately added duff-stuff such as False Virginia-creeper (Parthenocissus inserta) and Wilson's Honeysuckle (Lonicera nitida) to his PSL but resolutely ignored the hybrids such as Hybrid Woundwort (Stachys x ambigua) and Huntingdon Elm (Ulmus x vegeta). Graeme doesn't 'do' hybrids...yet. Lots of Fragrant Agrimony (Agrimonia procera), a flowering plant of Balm (Melissa officinalis) and Enchanter's Nightshade Rust (Puccinia circeae) were also noted before Graeme pointed out my first new plant of the day - Broad-leaved Helleborine (Epipactis helleborine), massively overdue and a bit of a tart's tick and way past its best too, just leaves and seed pods. But good enough for me!

OK, I admit it's not exactly the best pic you'll ever see of Broad-leaved Helleborine. But the angle was tricky, the camera was playing up, the light was bad, it kept moving around...basically it's a crap pic of a helleborine which, admit it, does exhibit rather a broad leaf (alright, so I'm rubbish at taking pics. Get over it...)

After I'd finished unsuccessfully papping the helleborine we headed towards Graeme's main reason for being here - THE FISH! 

Now, some folks may be aware of the ongoing battle between Graeme and the mysteriously secretive Dr Richard Comont to stay top of the PSL Fish League. Graeme did catch up and overtake Richard, momentarily, before Doctor Evil whacked down an additional TEN species in one hit, all through trawling (trawling, ha, get it?) through his notebooks. Ten! Graeme was physically shaken and in a state of utter disbelief at this latest development and was currently in a desperate race to reclaim his title as The Codfather in what has since become known as The Great Fish Wars. Could I help him achieve that goal? Well hopefully so...

A short while later we were standing at the side of the road staring into a shallow, crystal clear stream with our binoculars. Sea Trout was first up, I told Graeme to keep his eyes on the water flowing over a large patch of gravel. "That's where I normally see a couple of small Grayling, usually with the trout" I advised. And sure enough, right on cue, a slim silvery fish appeared - followed by a second. "Grayling! And there's two of 'em!" I grinned. Graeme was silent...um? Graeme? You on them or what?.... "I SEE IT!!!! I SEE IT!!! Is it one? I can't see the fin! Deeply forked tail...I can see the fin! Wow, look at that fin! It's a Grayling - and now there's another one!!!!" was Graeme's delayed response. Grayling (Thymallus thymallus) = Tick! Happy days, that's pulled him one closer to the mad-haired Doctor Evil. Just before we left I had time to find one lifer for myself, although it took Graeme to identify it for me. Viburnum Leaf Beetle (Pyrrhalta viburni). There were many of them all over the Viburnum which was absolutely peppered with holes. Apparently it's quite a common species, guess I just don't get onto the chalk often enough? Here's an especially crappy, heavily cropped pic of a pair in cop. Note all the feeding damage, which is what first caught my eye. 

We ambled up the stream to a nice spot I know and watched Chub (Squalius cephalus) and Perch (Perca fluviatilis) at very close range. Graeme didn't need either though, so we headed off into the New Forest to find him a whole heapload of rare and scarce plants.

I won't bore you with repeated tales of Hatchett Pond and it's Duck Potato (Sagittaria latifolia). Needless to say Graeme needed it and duly paid his respects. Plus the Dwarf Spike-rush (Eleocharis parvula) nearby. We headed up onto Beaulieu Heath for the Spreading Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster divaricatus) which obliged very nicely, when Graeme somehow (and I honestly don't know how!) spotted a 2.5mm bug running across the sandy ground at his feet. Talk about being tuned-in! We managed a few pics (mine were rubbish, obviously) but incredibly Graeme nailed it within no time and added Chlamydatus saltitans to our lists. Top marks! If you want to know what it looks like have a look at this http://www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/Miridae/chlamydatus_saltitans.html My pics aren't quite as sharp...

All around were glaucous-leaved sedges. I asked Graeme what they were and he showed me how to recognise Carnation Sedge (Carex panicea), glaucous on both sides of the blade which becomes triangular in outline c1cm from the tip. Cool, that's another new one for me!

Next we dropped down the road a short distance to Crockford Bridge and its amazing lawn full of goodies. We both needed Chaffweed and Yellow Centaury, plus Graeme was positively champing at the bit to find Coral-necklace. We'd heard that Chaffweed supposedly often grows with Allseed, if we found one maybe we'd find the other? I knew where some Allseed was and subtly angled us in its general direction. Graeme was on the hunt for Coral-necklace, and despite walking past a small straggly plant I kept quiet, I knew it was here in good quantity, he wouldn't take long to find some. Sure enough, in no time at all, Graeme was gleefully pointing at the ground and a nice string of Coral-necklace (Illecebrum verticillatum). By the time I joined him he was already hunched over it and taking photos. I arrived just in time to hear him say, "there's a bit of Allseed here....and CHAFFWEED right next to it look!!!" I did a bit of a double-take and quickly fell to my hands and knees in proper lawn-botanising style! Sure enough, just a few inches from the Allseed (Radiola linoides) was a very smart (if tiny!) plant of Chafffweed (Lysimachia minima) showing the darkened undersides to the leaf margins. I managed a very poor pic through my 10x handlens. Apologies in advance! 

Just as I was about to take another pic, Graeme said the unbelievable - "and look, Yellow Centaury's here as well!!!" You could have knocked me over with a feather. Honestly? I looked at where Graeme was pointing, saw nothing but sparse grass and looked again. Holy cow! Yellow Centaury (Cicendia filiformis) was right there by my knee. I'd almost knelt on it! It was tiny, absolutely bloody tiny! No wonder I'd failed to find it before, my eyes are almost 6ft off the ground when I walk around. I seriously doubt I'd even see it unless on my hands and knees! The single bright yellow flowerhead was all of 2mm across. I knew it was small, but bloody hell! Graeme admitted he'd probably never have spotted it if we hadn't already been kneeling down right next to it. Trying to get a pic was no mean feat, I managed a half-decent smudge and, for once, Graeme couldn't do much better. I noticed a gone over head next to it, then another a few inches away, but that was all. What a magical coupla square feet of turf this was. Bet I'll never be able to pinpoint it again though...

Rather thrilled to have cleared up on the lawn specialities all at once, we set off through the gorse towards a valley mire just a few hundred metres away. At the edge Graeme pointed out Sphagnum compactum, one I'd not identified before and pretty much does what it says on the tin. Here's a poor pic.

Entering the mire we took care not to fall over and headed towards the patch of Black Bog-rush (Schoenus nigricans). Graeme says it's a great indicator plant of really good habitat, so we closed in to see what we could find. Hearing several quiet 'tutt' noises we stopped, Graeme recognised this noise from Finland - Large Marsh Grasshopper (Stethophyma grossum) and pretty soon we were finding them underfoot including a pair in cop (see Graeme's blog for the brilliant pic). Best I could manage with my small clickamatic was this, but it's still fairly impressive -

Huge boogers!

Graeme was starting to lag,I suggested a number of other stops and species but he was pooped. Poor fella. I couldn't grumble - I'd had seven new species today. Graeme had racked up an astonishing TWENTY SEVEN new species!! And now he was done in and ready to kip. One last detour though, we rejoined the M27 and I spun us around the junction 2 roundabout a couple of times, grabbing a fistful of Stinking Fleabane (Dittrichia graveolens) through the van window as we cruised past. That was the twenty eighth and last tick of the day for Graeme as we bumbled back to civilisation - me to Southampton, Graeme continuing onwards to Brighton.

So, the New Forest does it again. I'm wondering if it'll ever stop giving? Probably not for a long, long time. Not for this PSLer anyway!