Botanical Survey for Plantlife

Ecology Partners were delighted, during the scorching hot summer of 2018, to be asked by leading plant conservation charity Plantlife to carry out a botanical survey of Greena Moor Nature Reserve  in North Cornwall. Greena Moor is the largest remaining area in Cornwall of a threatened habitat known as culm grassland. This species-rich habitat includes elements of mire, marshy grassland, fen, wet heath and rush-dominated pasture and is one of Britain’s rarest habitats. The site is a SSSI managed and owned jointly by Plantlife and Cornwall Wildlife Trust . Plantlife have recently expanded the reserve, joining previously isolated fields and presenting new opportunities for management.

The aim of the survey was to collect data on the habitats and plant communities present within the site to serve as a new baseline against which to assess future change. Over several, very hot, days we carried out targeted vegetation sampling using quadrats following the National Vegetation Classification methodology to identify and map the habitats within the reserve. New digital GIS mapping was produced to present the findings and these will be used to inform future management and on-going efforts to restore the newly acquired parts of the reserve to greater species richnesss.

The unusually hot and dry conditions meant that we even kept our feet dry during the process (rare on this, normally rather wet site!) and there were some spectacular displays of rare plants such as Whorled Caraway and Marbled White butterfly to which the site it home.