When Dave and I went over to Anchor Bottom a couple of weeks ago, to look for the Autumn Lady's Tresses, it didn't look very promising. This is one of the premier sites in Sussex and we couldn't find a single specimen. The ground was baked dry and it looked impossible for anything to break through the rock hard surface.
Two weeks on, a few days rain and everything looks so different. Green grass, fresh growth everywhere and best of all, thousands of specimens of the Autumn Lady's Tresses.
They were growing on the south facing shoulder of the site in a strip around 400 metres long and up to 10 metres wide.
There may well have been more growing elsewhere on the site but this strip was more than enough to keep us occupied.
In places you could count twenty or more to a square metre and you had to be very careful where you placed your feet.
The botanical name spiranthes spiralis is derived from the ancient Greek σπεῖρα (speira) "spiral" and ἄνθος (anthos) "flower". The species name spiralis also refers to the placement of the flowers in a spiral.
The stems were mostly in the range 6 to 12cm tall. They are small and delicate and easy to miss until you get your eye in to looking for them, then they were everywhere.
All credit to the landowner for preserving the environment in Anchor Bottom. It sustains an impressive population of insects, butterflies and wild flowers which are a joy to see but which are so dependant on his careful management of the grazing regime. Not sure he can do much about the rabbits though.
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