Cambridgeshire vc29

The Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland  vice-county (vc) recorder for the "Old" county of Cambridgeshire (ie excluding Huntingdonshire) is Jonathan Shanklin.  All county records go into the BSBI "Distribution Database" so that they can be accessed more widely.  Alan Leslie (now recorder emeritus) is a good port of call if you have an unusual specimen that needs checking.  Plantlife give the county flower as Pulsatilla vulgaris, which is now a rare plant in the county, only found in the wild on the Devil's Ditch.

Contact details:
Jonathan Shanklin, 11 City Road, Cambridge CB1 1DP.  Email -jdsh [at] bas.ac.uk-

News: February 1: update / Newsletter 2024  (2nd edition) / The annual update of the Register of Plants of Conservation Concern was made in 2024 January /  Newsletter 2023  / Project LORE in Cambridgeshire / Violets and others - Peter Leonard's blogpost featuring many of his excellent photographs /

Local meetings with a botanical bias in 2024. All dates are provisional.
See BSBI Guidance for Participants on Field Meetings You attend meetings at your own risk:


2024
March 23 - SE Cambridgeshire churchyards - CFG
April 7 - TL45J - CNHS
April 16 - Hatley - CFG
May 11 - Hope Farm - CFG
May 16 - TL45J - CNHS
June 9 - Abington Piggots - CFG
June 13 - TL45J - CNHS
June 20 - IWM Duxford Airfield - CFG
July 9 - Wicken Fen - CFG
July 18 - TL45J - CNHS
August 3 - A wood TBC - CFG
August 25 - TL45J - CNHS
August 31 - Northstowe - CFG
September 8 - TL45J - CNHS (Galls)
September 21 - River Nene in admin Cambridgeshire CFG
October 6 - TL45J - CNHS (Fungi)
October 12 - Westfield Farm CFG
November 3 - TL45J - CNHS (Bryophytes)

An email will be sent about 10 days before each Flora Group meeting - if you want information please make sure that your mail server doesn't treat my messages as spam and reject them.  The CNHS field studies in 2024 will cover the tetrad TL45J in west Cambridge, which was a BSBI local change tetrad in 2004 and led to me becoming the VCR.  To be added to the distribution list please contact Jonathan.

Star finds in 2024: (NCR = new county record, LCR = last county record)Previous star finds.

Recording
Please read the Recording guidelines for detailed information, including advice on use of iRecord.  I welcome records from any part of Cambridgeshire.  Please continue to use Stace III names if submitting spreadsheets, as MapMate has still not been updated to Stace IV.  Useful records range through casual sightings of an interesting species, re-finds or discoveries of a rare plant, systematic surveys of a species or group, and systematic records from a small site or larger area.  The map (click on it for a full size version, updated 2024 January 1) gives an indication of coverage at monad level since completion of the BSBI Atlas in 2019, shown by blank (no records), red (<4 species), amber (<11), yellow (<51), pale green (50-100) and green (>100).  One monad in central Cambridge has over 600 species and largely thanks to Covid, the area around Cambridge has fairly good coverage.  There is always more to add!  
Green shaded areas are SSSIs.

The BSBI has a new project for England: finding plants in hectads where they haven't been seen since 1999, but were present between 1950 and 1999.  This is called Project LORE.  For v.c.29 there are quite a lot of such apparently missing species, with a concentration in the chalk arable and grassland areas. There is a general list of species which gives the hectads from which they are apparently missing and a detailed spreadsheet, which gives the last location(s) where they were seen, sometimes in duplicate.  Note that some positions and identifications may be erroneous.  Many sites are on private land and you should not trespass.  Do get out and have a look where there is public access - and let me have the records, along with a report of anything of interest, either for publication in the Flora Group newsletter or in English Botanical News.

There are 665 tetrads in the county. 442 are completely within the county and 111 have less than half their area within the county. The median number of species per tetrad in the county is 275 (260 post 2000), so a well recorded tetrad will probably have around this number of species within it. Fenland generally has fewer species, whilst urban and southern areas have more.  At the start of 2024 the tetrad with the most species ever recorded was TL45P (Central Cambridge) with 1052 (997), followed by TL45N (South Cambridge) with 1032 (955), TL45U with 978 (927) and TL45J (West Cambridge) with 977 (961) Outside the Cambridge area, the most species rich tetrad is TL58K (Ely) with 803 (730), followed by TL25F (Gamlingay south) with 633 (511), TL25G (Gamlingay north) with 610 (519), TL49E (March, Whitemoor) with 594 (535), TL44Z (Sawston) with 596 (530) and TL66Z (Kennett pits) with 592 (518).   TL45J gained two on January 1.

In 2024 the CNHS field studies have reurned to the tetrad TL45J, where they began in 2004, when it turned out to be one selected by the BSBI for its local change project. Whilst much has changed since then, new plants continue to be found, with five added during 2023. The CNHS field studies area for 2023 was the area called Great Kneighton by the developers, though for the field studies it stretches as far south as Nine Wells LNR and north to Long Road.  It includes the Addenbrookes site, Hobson's Park and the Guided Busway to Trumpington. Monads in Cambridge were recorded at the 1 km level of precision for the Natural History of Cambridge project, and the resulting book was published in October 2022.  Post 2019, the monad TL4458 has the most species with 622 (835 in total and 800 post 2000), followed by TL4557 with 560 (730, 692).

Other recording projects could involve thorough surveys of a site, tetrad or parish.  Making regular visits over different months and years will give a comprehensive flora.  Even apparently very well recorded sites will have species that have been missed on previous visits, or have plants that have only recently arrived, so there is always a chance of finding something new.  Many sites are not as well recorded as they seem when looked at a finer resolution than tetrad.  At a tetrad level visits to tetrads A, J and W are particularly valuable as these form the basis of local change monitoring; where possible these tetrads could be fully recorded by individual monad.  Another recording project would be to find or re-find plants on the Register of Plants of Conservation Concern, particularly those that have not been seen for some time. 

A good record will include: what you saw, where you saw it, when you saw it and who you are.  For something unusual, comments such as the number of plants, their status, habitat, a description of the site, associated plants etc is helpful.  For a critical or difficult species a voucher specimen may be needed. 

Our records are shared with CPERC, who in turn share their records with us.

Recording Aids:
Recording card:  vc29 blank record sheet This prints double sided on a laser printer, though you may need to set flip page.  This version is optimised for v.cc.29 & 31 and marks common species and those of conservation concern. Updated 2021 January 21.
County Plant Notes: Draft of a booklet giving partial keys and tips on some plant identifications.  A new edition is planned.
Data entry:  Excel spreadsheet with visual basic front end for entering records.  This is modified from the Sussex Species Recorder.  It is optimised for vc29, so that the commonest species should come up first.  Instructions for use.
Vice county boundaries: The vc boundaries are often different to the modern county boundaries and this site maps where they actually are.  The definitive boundary of vc29 was first published in 1983 in A Checklist of the Flora of Cambridgeshire by G Crompton and H L K  Whitehouse and was redrawn by T J Bennett and G Crompton in 1990.

County Plant Lists
These lists are drafts and do contain errors.  

Common plants
: This list of common plants includes those species which are present in more than twenty percent of county tetrads. In general species on this list can be recorded to 1 km resolution and do not require confirmation. [Updated 2021 January 20]

Full plant list
:  This county plant list includes all those plants in the county MapMate database; it will have omissions and errors.  It needs to be read in conjunction with the contents list of the Cambridgeshire Flora Records.  A more complete list that will form the vice-county checklist will be prepared in due course.  [updated 2021 January 20]

Plants of Conservation Concern


Axiophytes:  This draft list of axiophytes comprises those species that occur in between approximately 25% and 2% of the county's tetrads (ie are not too common and not very rare), and are not invasive aliens, planted trees, hybrids or indicative of brown-field sites.  [Revised  2021 January 20]  Note that some plants may be too common to be on the rare plant list, but too rare to be an axiophyte.

Churchyards
are often the last refuges for plants that have become uncommon in the wider countryside and often have introduced species that are less frequent in the wider countryside.  These lists will give: Common churchyard plants, churchyard axiophytes, churchyard rare plants

Local groups with botanical interests:  The Cambridgeshire Flora Group has meetings during the season, trying to re-find historical records and visiting interesting sites, with some visits to under-recorded areas.  The Cambridge Natural History Society also has meetings that more often than not have a botanical bias.  These are mostly visits to local sites and each year the Society makes monthly visits to a smaller area near Cambridge for a comprehensive survey of its flora and fauna.  A large part of the County is within the Fenland Flora Project organised by Jonathan Graham and Owen Mountford, which is now being written up and is scheduled for publication in 2024.  There are also several U3A Botany Groups based within the County.

Local publications
The Nature of Cambridge, the report of the NatHistCam project was published in 2022 October.
A new key to Elms by Brian Eversham is largely based on local specimens
Flora of Cambridgeshire, Alan C Leslie, RHS (2019) is the most comprehensive Flora of the county yet published.
A Flora of Cambridgeshire, F H Perring, P D Sell and S M Walters (1964)
A Checklist of the Flora of Cambridgeshire, G. Crompton and H.L.K. Whitehouse (in collaboration with G.M.S. Easy and A.C. Leslie) (1983)
The Flora of Ely, R M Payne (2002)
Wildflowers of Haddenham Parish (2011)
Vice-county Census Catalogue of vascular Plants of Great Britain, Ed. C.A. Stace et al. (2003) 
Cambridgeshire Flora Records - Gigi Crompton's compendium of historical records since 1538, which includes a rare plant section, and equates to a county checklist (2001 - 2004)
John Ray's Cambridge Catalogue, Ed. P H Oswald and C D Preston (2011) 

Cambridge University Herbarium
The Herbarium is a very useful facility for checking specimens against vouchers that have been determined by experts.  You can arrange to use the collections for research by contacting the Curator, Lauren Gardiner, at lmg32 [at] cam.ac.uk. Please note that all specimens being brought into the Herbarium must be frozen in the on-site freezer for a minimum of three days before they can taken into the collections for comparison and you will need to arrange this with Lauren before your study visit.  If you are interested in volunteering at the Herbarium, please contact Lauren directly – more volunteering opportunities are planned for the future.

Useful links
Cambridge Natural History Society
Cambridge Natural History Society - Field Studies - includes site checklists for many sites, though these are now very dated
Nature in Cambridgeshire - publishes annual flora records, articles on the flora of sites etc
Huntingdonshire vc31
BSBI Home Page - gives web sites for many counties
BSBI Meetings page
BSBI Guidance for Participants on Field Meetings
BCN Wildlife Trust Resources - includes local keys for a dozen plant groups
Ken's Keys - Helpful illustrated tips on identification from Ken Adams
Violets and others - Peter Leonard's blogpost featuring many of his excellent photographs
Ecoflora - ecological characteristics, morphology, distribution and mycorrhizal associations etc
British Wild Flowers - images, including many brambles
Planet a Cambridge student blog looking at the intersection of plants and society

County Recorders for v.c.29
S Max Walters           1949 - 1961
Franklyn H Perring    1961 - 1971
Richard J Pankhurst  1971 - 1974
Gigi Crompton           1974 - 2002 d. 2020
Derek A Wells            1989 - 2001
Nick P Millar               2001 - 2013
Alan C Leslie              2002 - 2019, Recorder Emeritus 2019 -
Jonathan D Shanklin  2013 - date

The Mistletoe Challenge: The 2019 newsletter noted that there was an apparent decline in Viscum album across much of the county.  Cambridge itself is definitely an exception.  During the winter of 2018/19 it was refound in several hectads, hence coming off the list of threatened species in the county, however there are still several hectads where it was not found.  Can you find the plant in the following hectads, where it was mostly last seen in the early 1970s; where known a location is given, though some of the locations are not in vc29.  Red indicates that the location was searched in 2018/19 and nothing found, green is a successful refind in 2023: TL26, TL37 (Earith), TL38 (Chatteris), TL64, TL67 (Fordham), TF40 (Wisbech), TF50 (Upwell).  It was added to TL48 in 2023. It has not been found (yet) in TL29, TL39, TL59, TL68, TF30, TF41 and a few other fragmentary hectads. 

Archive
BSBI meetings in or organised from vc29
BSBI meetings in 2012
BSBI meetings in 2013
BSBI English Botanical News No 2 (printable booklet form)
BSBI England Vice-county reports 2020
BSBI England New and Interesting county records 2020
This animation attempted to show how Atlas 2020 coverage of vc29 progressed from 2013 November to 2019 December in monthly steps; during 2018 June and July some data from 1970-1999 was included for some tetrads and hectads that hadn't made the 75% cut, producing a sudden jump.  

Cambridgeshire Flora Group
Spring newsletter 2003
Spring newsletter 2004
Spring newsletter 2006
Spring newsletter 2007
Spring newsletter 2008
Spring newsletter 2009
Spring newsletter 2010
Spring newsletter 2011
Spring newsletter 2012
Spring newsletter 2013
Spring newsletter 2014
Spring newsletter 2015
Newsletter 2016
Newsletter 2017
Newsletter 2018
Newsletter 2019
Newsletter 2020
Newsletter 2021
Newsletter 2022
Newsletter 2023
Newsletter 2024

This page was created by Jonathan Shanklin and last revised on 2024 February 1