The SLBI was
founded in
1910
by A O Hume
The SLBI Gazette
www.slbi.org.uk
Series 2 no. 20 August 2014
South London Botanical Institute, 323 Norwood Road, London SE24 9AQ
Tel/Fax 020 8674 5787 E mail info@slbi.org.uk Registered Charity 214251
Mad about Mosses
Some years ago the trustees
contemplated how best to celebrate
100 years of the existence and success
of SLBI. Chairman Roy Vickery
suggested we create a moss trail. His
suggestion suited the Institute’s long
and rich moss history (as well as our
compact garden). Our historic
herbarium contains a valuable
collection of mosses, with specimens
dating back to 1829. Many prominent
bryologists have been associated with
SLBI, including W.R. Sherrin, E.C.
Wallace, W. Gardiner and F. H.
Brightman. More recently, Dr June
Chatfield, a Fellow of the Institute
and author of How to Begin the Study of
Mosses and Liverworts (2008), noted 14
species of mosses in the garden –
enough to be of botanical interest.
Roy’s modest proposal grew into an
application to the Esmée Fairbairn
Foundation (July 2012) to set up and
label the trail and run associated
educational activities. We were
fortunate to receive funding later that
year and started working seriously on
the project in 2013, fitting the project
around mosses most active season.
In the run up to the Esmée Fairbairn
Foundation-funded activities, SLBI
held a number of moss-related events.
At our 2012 AGM Jeff Duckett and
Silvia Pressel lectured on London’s
changing moss flora (see their article
in the London Naturalist 89: 101-16,
2010). Early in 2013 Jan Hendey, the
Identifying a moss on a concrete bollard : Photo A. Bourne
British Bryological Society’s recorder
for Kent, led a field meeting in West
Norwood Cemetery. In October 2013
Alan Harrington, formerly of the
Natural History Museum, led a
workshop introducing our staff and
volunteers to the identification of
mosses.
Early in 2013, using the EFF grant, we
purchased lenses and kneeling mats,
information sheets, garden signage
and display board and set about
drawing up role descriptions to recruit
specialists help us realise our ambition.
We recruited three excellent
candidates to promote mosses at the
Institute and beyond. Pete Howarth,
Mari Whitelaw and Nell Gatehouse all
took on specific roles on seasonallylimited contracts over two years.
Pete Howarth, the London Natural
History Society’s Recorder of
Bryophytes, is a well-known bryologist
with excellent experience of botanical
education for children and adults. He
surveyed the garden mosses, identifing
a total of 23 species, including 2
liverworts, considerably more
bryophytes than anticipated. A
selection of species will be labelled
and identified on information sheets,
illustrated with drawings and
photographs so people can make their
way around the garden looking at and
learning about marvellous mosses.
The sheets will be ready for the
opening of the Moss Trail in October
2014. Pete is also working on a moss
Mari Whitelaw, of the University of
Hertfordshire, co-ordinated moss
activities aimed at people of all ages
and all abilities. On 15 February 2014
we had a full day of activities to launch
Mad about Mosses month, including a
survey in Brockwell Park Community
Green Houses. A varied programme
of activities ran during February and
March 2014, including identification
workshops, a survey of St Leonard’s
Churchyard , an urban ramble, a
microscopy workshop, lectures on
bryophytes, the role of mosses in
evolution and ecology, an art
workshop and a botanical illustration
class. All attracted both new visitors
and longer-standing members. We
toured the SLBI garden in minute
detail, examined the local pavements,
kerbs, bollards and walls and explored
the Brockwell Community
Greenhouses and surrounds. The
survey of St Leonard’s Churchyard
identified the first hepatic (liverwort)
noted on the site. The sheer beauty
and variety of these tiny, delicate
plants made a huge impression on
many of us who had never looked
closely at them before and certainly
not under a microscope.
Our Administrator, Nell Gatehouse, is
bringing her experience with, and
knowledge of, local schools and
communities to an outreach role, to
publicise our activities and ensure that
local people are involved in them. She
has been experimenting with solutions
to encourage moss growth on different
surfaces and create moss graffiti. We
are hoping that the onset of the
rainier season later in the year will
stimulate mossy writings on the wall.
It’s been exciting to witness the
discussions that have been stimulated
around the project and mosses in
general over the past year. There has
been more interest in the herbarium’s
moss collection, with the herbarium
team taking an active role in
displaying moss specimens and
encouraging their examination. Many
people have a raised awareness of the
importance of mosses in the urban
environment, and an enhanced
knowledge of the range of urban
mosses and the number of additional
and new species that can be
encountered in the cracks of south
London pavements. Our gardeners,
Sarah Davey and Cath Pearson, are
enthusiastic about garden activities
being extended throughout the winter,
when most plants are dormant, but
mosses are usually at their most
visible.
The grand opening of the Moss Trail is
planned for October 2014, with
another great Mad about Mosses
month taking place early in 2015.
Some years after Roy’s initial
suggestion, we find ourselves in
possession of the only moss trail in
London – possibly the only one in
England. South London Botanical
Institute – Moss Trail blazing indeed.
Marlowe Russe!
Mad about Mosses –
Urban Mosses
Identification Course:
Saturday 1st March
Following the very successful moss
Bryoblitz the previous week , a
weekend programme of two
workshops, one on moss and liverwort
identification using keys and a
microscopy event looking at
microscopes, and catching methods
for invertebrates, trying to identify
some of the creatures which use
mosses as a home or as a hunting
ground. The response to our moss
identification session led by Pete
Howarth, LNHS Bryophyte recorder,
did not look promising with only five
participants having booked so a small
scattering of microscopes and hand
lenses was set out in the small nature
study room. However as the doorbell
kept ringing and people who had not
booked kept arriving more
microscopes were hastily set up until
we had 15 keen would-be moss
identifiers packed into this small
room. Mike had managed to scrape
some 15 species of moss off of walls on
his way up from Tunbridge Wells to
the SLBI and everyone had a moss
specimen and a dichotomous key to
test their identification skills using a
mixture of careful observation and
detective work. Dichotomous keys
have been described as identification
aides written by those who do not
need them for people who can’t
understand them. The key had been
specially designed to allow most of the
work to be done in the field without
the need for microscopy. The event
went well and the rather cramped
conditions added a buzz and a sense of
intimacy to the proceedings as people
used the stereomicroscopes to pick
their way through the various
identification features, coaxed by our
expert. But for the occasional
discussions about structural
terminology the keys worked and
although the progression through the
key points was painfully slow and we
only managed to pick our way through
six or seven of the 15 species provided.
As a respite from the rather cramped
conditions of the lecture room the
Photo: Bob Francis
app, assisting identification through
mobile devices, which we anticipate
will be popular with younger visitors.
Pete led several highly educational
sessions during the Mad about Mosses
month, remaining patient with those
of us who repeatedly confused our
pleurocarpous with our acrocarpous
while being a constant source of
enthusiastic knowledge for the more
advanced among us.
Pete Howarth dissecting moss sample for identification.
group adjourned to the garden to be
led around the proposed moss trail to
identify the mosses and liverworts
living ‘on our doorstep’. Time passed
quickly and the session came to an end
with participants still engrossed in
microscope work and wanting more.
The objectives of the session were
achieved, two new members were
recruited and a good few of those
attending seemed to be new (and
young) faces to SLBI events. There
was much positive feedback expressed
by those attending given verbally on
their way out.
Mad about Mosses – Mosses and
Microscopes Course: Sunday 2nd
March
Five participants were booked on the
‘moss minibeast’ event which swelled
to eight when the course began.
Fortunately the large lecture room had
been set up with the newly-purchased
tables because our tutor, Dennis
Fulwood aided by Mari Whitelaw
from the University of Hertfordshire,
arrived with an impressive collection
of microscopes, sampling apparatus,
identification keys and dissecting
equipment to work with. When all
the microscopes were spread out they
quickly filled the available space
allowing all the attendees ample space
to examine the mosses and to make
microscopic preparations.
The session started with an
‘Introduction to microscopy’ talk
where the practicalities of the use of
microscopes was covered with a brief
description of the theory behind some
of the more specialised forms of
microscopy where appropriate. We
then moved on to talk about the ways
of collecting minibeasts – a Tullgren
funnel trap had been set up which
consisted of a light bulb illuminating a
funnel containing the moss samples
which emptied into a flask containing
alcohol. A temperature gradient was
set up in the funnel making the
minibeasts move away from the heat
(and light) and fall into the alcohol
which preserved them for
microscopical examination.
Alternatively the mossy ball could be
squeezed and the ooze examined.
We could expect to see spiders,
beetles, centipedes, fly larvae,
woodlice, protozoa, nematodes, mites,
collembola (springtails), gastropods,
diatoms, rotifers, copepod crustaceans
and tardigrades.
By this time the urge to start looking
at the specimens under the
microscope was overwhelming and the
rest of the time was spent searching
through the mass of bits of moss and
grit looking for signs of life.
Nematodes were plentiful as were
diatoms - time was spent looking at
the glassy skeletons of these
unicellular algae. After a while
collembolans or springtails were
found, these are omnivorous, freeliving organisms that prefer moist
conditions. There are about 3,600
different species which are usually less
than 6mm long; they have survived
virtually unaltered since Devonian
times – they have even been found
encased in amber. Our specimens were
from the Podura group of dark
springtails. An occasional testate
rhizopod (a unicellular amoeboid
organism) picked its way through the
organic debris trying to escape the
light. Some small spiders were the
largest organisms found which could
be viewed in great detail through the
fine stereomicroscopes provided. Alas
the tardigrade (water bear or moss
Time passed quickly, budding
microscopists had to be prized away
from the microscopes and the session
closed with everyone wanting more.
This workshop presented an
opportunity to put on test the recently
acquired stereomicroscope bought in
memory of the late Peter Holland who
was for many years curator of the
SLBI herbarium and a noted botanist.
The microscope performed superbly
and is a valuable instrument for
teaching and research.
Bob Francis
Update on Heritage
Lottery Fund project:
‘Living History –
Sharing our Botanical
Historical Heritage’
Since we introduced ourselves to you
at the start of June, we’ve been busy
getting stuck into our work for the
new project funded by the Heritage
Lottery Fund: ‘Living History – Sharing
our Botanical Historical Heritage’.
Looking for mini beasts :
Photo Bob Francis
piglet) remained elusive. This
legendary and virtually indestructible
creature is about 0.5 mm long and can
withstand boiling, freezing,
bombarding with ionising radiation
and the vacuum of outer space and can
survive starvation for 10 years – all this
and it is cute to look at!
Education
Since we started in May we’ve led 11
school visits, which means the
Institute has had 21 school visits in
total during the 2013/14 school year.
We’re now looking at how we can
promote school visits next term and
into the future, including trying to get
some older pupils (most visits this year
have been from Year 1 pupils – 5-6 year
olds). Any suggestions of contacts at
secondary schools or colleges (for
students of science, art, conservation
etc) would be most welcome. We’re
also assessing all of our educational
resources and seeing what additional
learning materials might be useful.
We’ve been working with Roy to
develop the autumn programme of
events for adults, some of which will
hopefully tie in with our new Saturday
3
openings. We’re currently planning to
start opening on Saturdays at the end
of September, after Open House
Weekend (the Institute will be open
on 21st September, which seems a
good time to launch our new ‘open’
times) and when we hope the
refurbishment of the lecture room
will be complete.
Furthermore, we are also participating
again in the ‘Big Draw’ on Sunday 2nd
November and are hoping as in
previous years to attract plenty of
local people and members of the
general public to enjoy a day of guided
botanical drawings. A detailed
programme will be produced soon.
Refurbishment
Plans for the lecture room are
continuing to progress. We’re in the
process of deciding between quotes
from various building contractors and
anyone who visits the building is
being encouraged to give their views
on the multitude of wallpaper samples
stuck on the walls! We’re hoping that
work will start in late August or early
September. We’re planning to get
most of the Institute’s 27 windows
and shutters painted at the same time.
Volunteers
We’ve advertised for more Education
volunteers, with some good results, so
should have a couple more volunteers
helping us from the autumn.
However, we think we still need a few
more, so if any members are keen to
help, or know others who might (on
Tuesdays or Wednesdays), please do
Caroline Pankhurst - Education
&Project Manager
let us know. We’re also looking for
volunteers to help us with our
Saturday openings and publicity.
October. This should include moss ID
sessions with microscopes, a theatre
performance and a folk band.
Website
We’ve looked at the Institute’s website
and compared it to some others which
we like, and drawn up a specification
to send out to potential web
developers. We hope that a new
website will be easier for visitors to
navigate, show off the delights of the
Institute in beautiful photographs, and
be easy for us to update with new
events etc.
E-newsletter
We’ve started collecting email
addresses in our Visitors’ Book and at
our events so that we can email people
about once a month with our news and
upcoming activities. We hope that this
will increase the number of our visitors
and encourage regular attendance from
some of our close neighbours etc. We
are going to take the liberty of adding
you to this email list, if we have an
email address for you. If you receive
the email and decide that you don’t
want any more like it, please do just
reply to it saying so, and we’ll take you
off the list.
School holiday activities
As well as managing the Heritage
Lottery Fund grant, we’re also working
to achieve the final targets of the
Ernest Cook Plant City funding. This
includes some summer holiday
activities for children. In line with
this, we recently held a ‘Mysterious
Hedges’ event, with a storyteller
telling children about the Great
Hedge of India then an artist (and
former garden volunteer) showing
them the ‘digital hedge’ he developed
for the Chelsea Fringe Festival. In the
second half of August we’ll be running
four days of ‘plant fun’ children’s
activities – arts, crafts and games etc.
Mosses
We’re also helping to carry out the
second year of activities for the Mad
about Mosses funding from the Esmée
Fairbairn Foundation. At the time of
writing we’re finalising six mossrelated science and art activities in
August/September culminating in a
final big Moss Day on Saturday 4th
Helga Krauss - Plant Education
Coordinator
Finally, we are both continuing to
enjoy our busy days at the Institute
and look forward to meeting more
members soon.
With best wishes,
Caroline Pankhurst and Helga Krauss
caroline@slbi.org.uk and
Helga@slbi.org.uk
020 8674 5787
SLBI History 1972 –
1990
Lately we have been concentrating on
the early foundation and history of the
Institute. So I thought I would like to
remember some of the interesting
events of the nearer past, and some of
the many wonderful people who have
contributed to our successes. I have
been going through the minutes of the
Council, as it was then called, and
have so far covered the years 1972 to
1990.
The first thing that I notice is that at
the October 1972 Meeting it was
reported that the metal shelving had
been installed in the Lecture room –
this is of course what we are intending
to remove at the moment with the
redesign of that room. The November
1973 Meeting reported 2 interesting
events: I was elected to the Council,
and Frank Brightman said he would
take over responsibility for the
Garden. These were both to be longlasting appointments.
4
In December 1974 it was reported that
planning permission had been given
for building 3 houses on the adjacent
site – 321 Norwood Road, this had at
one time belonged to the Institute. In
March 1976 Cecil Prime was elected
our new President following the death
in January of J.E. Lousley. In the same
year we received our first grant (as far
as I know) this was £3,000 from the
Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust for
the Botanic Garden and Greenhouse.
This money was badly needed, as it
seemed that we had to sell furniture
and also some of the non-botanical
books at Sotheby's in1977. That year
the botanical artist Barbara Everard
gave us a talk, and presented us with a
series of drawings of alien plants from
her work with Ted Lousley.
1979 was a very sad year for us, as
Cecil Prime died. Our resident
Warden Charles Wicken also died in a
very tragic way, a while after he had
been run over at the Tulse Hill
crossing. Mrs Prime gave us Cecil's
slide collection, and also Lousley's
which he had left to Cecil. In April Mr
and Mrs Shallcross moved in as
Wardens, they stayed for 3 years until
Tim got his degree. In 1980 Sir David
Burnett resigned as Chairman and was
replaced by Frank Brightman. George
Phillips moved to Cleethorpes, and
was replaced as Treasurer by R.N.
Gutteridge. In March, 1981 we
welcomed Dr W. Bradbeer of the
King's College Botany Dept as our
new President. He was at the time
based in Half Moon Lane, where a
new Free School has recently been
located. In 1982 the Shallcrosses left,
and were replaced by Mr and Mrs J.
Burton.
During 1983 The Croydon Natural
History Society Herbarium was
transferred to the Institute. In 1985 we
agreed that the Conservation
Association of Botanical Societies
could use the room which is now the
Education Room as their office. Nick
Stewart moved in there early in 1986.
Also in 1986 Mr. and Mrs Burton left
unexpectedly, and my daughter Ros
who was doing her PGCE at
Goldsmith's College and her flat
mate, Kaye became resident Wardens.
It was recorded by the way that the
Library lighting including the “strip
lighting” had been installed in 1959.
Walter Scott and Richard Palmers
Shetland herbarium specimens were
presented to the Institute in 1987. In
1987 the University Extramural Classes
were no longer available. This was a
great loss, as we had benefitted from
them for a long time, in fact I had
joined the Institute to attend Ted
Lousley’s course on the British flora.
This was very easy to join as he was
working straight through the flora
with his wonderful slides, and so you
just followed through from wherever
he had got to. Cecil also tutored
classes later.
In 1988 Margaret Green from New
Zealand undertook a Library
reorganisation. The rare books and
some of the periodicals were to be
stored upstairs in the new book room.
Margaret became resident Warden as
well as Librarian in 1989 when Ros and
Kaye left. In 1990 Dulwich College
Herbarium was presented to us. This
was arranged by Brian Jones, their
head biology master and a Council
member.
The main event of 1990 was the
replacement of the old conservatory
which cost £4,500. Stanley Smith
Horticultural Trust had given us a
further £500 grant towards this.
Professor Peter Hunt of Thames
Polytechnic became President when
Frank Brightman was elected Director
at the AGM.
Judy Marsha!
Understanding Weeds
A course run by June Chatfield
held at the SLBI starting on
Wednesday 24th September
between 1.30-3.30pm for 4
weeks.
Weeds, battle against them or
admire them for their
persistence and efficiency. This
course sets out to understand
what makes a plant a weed, the
characteristics and adaptations
that enable them to thrive and
how we and wildlife can use
them or limit their domination.
Some are even protected plants!
Judy Marshall’s
Retirement
Judy Marshall receiving broach from
SLBI President Irene Palmer: Photo
Roy Vickery
On 13th January 2014 a small group of
staff and volunteers assembled in the
study room at the SLBI to mark the
retirement of our librarian Judy
Marshall from being a Trustee; the
presentation was made by our
president Irene Palmer. When asked
how long she had been on the
Committee of Trustees she went a bit
coy and when I started going up from
10 years in steps of 10 she stopped me
at 40. Much of this time she was
Chair of Trustees at a time when
money was tight and the place ran on
a shoestring – nobody knows more
about the SLBI than Judy does. Life in
those days must have been tough
when, unlike the present when grant
money allows us to expand and
develop in lots of exciting new areas; it
must have been difficult maintain
enthusiasm.
I am sure she has many tales to tell
but, try as I may, I could not persuade
her to reveal some of the more
sensational episodes in the SLBI’s
history. Instead she has searched the
archives for interesting snippets of
information about the early days of
the SLBI. Her present was a broach
depicting a gingko leaf – a fitting but
somewhat inadequate reward for all
her years of hard work. She will
continue to play an active role in the
Institute’s events and we all wish her
well
Bob Francis
5
Peckham Rye Park
Tree walk
On Friday the 20th June a Tree walk
took place in Peckham Rye Park. The
walk was led by Dr Alan Harrington
and was held jointly with the SLBI
and the Friends of the Park. Although
the walk was entitled "Concentrating
on Conifers" , we were delighted to
discover that Alan's expertise extends
to trees of all types . One reason for
holding the walk was because the
existing "Peckham Rye Tree Trail" is
now 20 years old, so the Friends and
the park staff are keen for it to be
updated. We also hope that more trees
can be labelled with both English and
Latin names as only a few are at
present.
Peckham Rye Park and Common
occupy an area of some 96.3 acres.
Most of the walk took place within
the park which was officially opened
on the 14th May 1894. The design of
the park was overseen by Lt Col J. J.
Sexby, the first Chief Officer of Parks
for the then newly created G.L.C. The
creation of the park as we see it today
took place in stages up until 1966 and
the last major restoration took place
in 2003-5. We did however extend the
walk into parts of the common
outside the park railings. A total of 60
trees and shrubs were examined
during the walk and many more
commented on in passing so there is
only space here to discuss a few of
them.
One of the first things spotted was
what Alan described as a very good
example of what is usually a large
shrub Griselinia littoralis which had
become tree sized. Near to that was a
hornbeam Carpinus betulus the name
means "hard tree." We were told that
the wood of this tree is really hard and
was once used to make wooden
hammers and for the centre of a
butcher's block and we were advised
to note the nutlet at the base of the
bract. Later by the lake we saw an
unusual hornbeam found only in some
collections; Carpinus japonica, the
Japanese hornbeam.
Further on was a Monterey pine Pinus
radiata the cones of which stay on for
a long time and on each short shoot
are three needles; Alan explaining that
you must check the number of needles
when identifying pines. We also saw
some Austrian pines Pinus nigra subsp.
nigra which is a two needle pine, the
blue atlas cedar Cedrus atlantica
'Glauca', a Japanese red cedar
Cryptomeria japonica and a good
example of the smooth Arizona
cypress Cupressus arizonica var.glabra
whose bark has characteristic blisters
and three dimensional foliage.
We admired an impressive specimen
of a dawn redwood Metasequoia
glyptostroboides and Alan helpfully gave
guidance as to how to distinguish this
tree from the swamp cypress Taxodium
distichum which despite its name does
not need a wet site. The trick is in the
leaves; in the former they are
distinctly larger and in opposite pairs;
the latter has alternate leaves.
Near the Bowling Green was a
confusingly called box elder or ashleaved maple Acer negundo. This was
introduced into this country by Henry
Compton, Bishop of London from
1675 to 1713, who was a considerable
tree enthusiast. Another rarer maple
was found near the lake Acer
buergerianum, called the trident maple
because it has ivy-like leaves shaped
like a trident or perhaps because of
the arrangement of the veins in the
leaf.
In the walled garden, named after Col.
Sexby, we looked at a Ginkgo biloba, the
Maidenhair Tree.This was a female
and we could see the green ovules.
They are in pairs and Alan explained
that only one develops which was
obvious from the fact that one was a
lot larger than the other. The chance
of pollination is remote as male
ginkgos seem to produce pollen only
when the tree is pretty old.
Near to that was a Russian olive or
oleaster Elaeagnus angustifolia a relative
of the sea buckthorn with silvery
leaves covered in scales like frilly discs.
There were winners and losers on this
walk. Outside the park in the common
was a dead tree.This was an Exeter
elm Ulmus glabra ' Exoniensis' which
Alan had examined two years
previously at which time it was
healthy and in full leaf. However
inside the park was what Alan
described as a lovely avenue of Ulmus '
New Horizon' trees planted in 2004/5
In a news item headed "Elms return to
Speakers Corner" the July edition of
The Garden states that these are a
hybrid between U. pumila and U.
davidiana var. japonica which has
proved resistant to Dutch elm disease.
So cross fingers that ours will survive!
We already knew there was a rare tree
in the Arboretum, a cut-leaved lime,
Tilia platyphy!os 'Laciniata'.
Alan had not seen one before and on
measuring it concluded it could be as
old as 60 years and might therefore
(possibly) have been planted at the
time of the Coronation. We did not
know however that there was another
rare species here; a hybrid wingnut,
Pterocarya x rehderiana. There are two
major important species of wingnut,
the Caucasian wingnut Pterocarya
#axinifolia, of which we have several
examples in the park, and the Chinese
wingnut P. stenoptera. This tree is a
hybrid between the two species. Also
in the Arboretum was an American
lime Tilia americana one of the less
common lime species seen.
Near the lake were different species of
hawthorn most interestingly the
Armenian thorn Crataegus heterophy!a
which was in vogue in the nineteenth
Saxby Garden, Peckham Rye Park. Photo: Hanif Jafri
6
century and can be seen in older parks.
Luckily there are quite a few healthy
looking ash trees in the park but one
unusual one (in this species) was
Fraxinus excelsior 'Diversifolia' -the
single-leaved ash i.e. an ash tree where
the leaves, which have jagged edges,
are not divided.
Outside the park we saw a native
black poplar Populus nigra subsp.
betulifolia. This was had been spotted
by Glynis Williams who had the
identification confirmed by DNA test.
The tree is a male clone - the
'Manchester' poplar. Alan pointed out
the characteristic spiral galls on it,
which are only found on the black
poplar and its cultivars. Near the main
gate of the park is a huge hybrid black
poplar Populus x canadensis 'Regenerata'.
In conclusion it was wonderful to find
out that there were so many unusual
trees in our park and Alan is returning
to the park on Friday 10th October
2014 for a follow up walk so we hope
some of you will be able to come. We
are meeting at 11.15 in the cafe on
Strakers Road in the centre of
Peckham Rye common. The Friends of
Peckham Rye park have a website
which gives more detail about the park
and the Friends and how to join which
only costs £5 ( £7.50 for famillies).
http://www.foprp.org.uk
Anne Stanesby
The Trial of William
Duncan - Gardener.
This is the true story of William
Duncan; accused of murdering his
employer after a difference of opinion
about how a vine should be pruned.
William Duncan's birth certificate has
not been found but from his age given
at trial, it would appear that he was
born on a date between 1783 and 1785.
He was apprenticed for seven years to
Alexander Winehouse, gardener and
steward at Castle Fraser near the
village of Kemnay in Aberdeenshire.
Eliza Fraser, the then lady laird, had
inherited Castle Fraser in 1792 and she
employed Thomas White, a pupil of
'Capability' Brown as her landscape
gardener. Castle Fraser is now a
National Trust for Scotland property
and well worth a visit. William
Duncan also worked in the gardens of
Common North Side to what is now
Lavender Hill. Two identical houses
called "The Sisters" were built in 1763
with an avenue of trees between them
and Mr. Chivers owned one of them.
The other one, called Gilmore house,
No 113 still exists.
The death of Mr Chivers reproduced from
the Wandsworth Historian No 75
nearby of Kemnay House and it was at
the latter location that he met the lady
who was later to save his life,
Elizabeth Burnett born in 1740, a
member of the family who owned that
estate.
In September 1804 the young William
Duncan came to London. Scottish
gardeners had a good reputation at the
time and he came with excellent
reference. He was described as being
of respectable appearance, athletic
looking, 21 or 22 years old, six feet tall
and a sober quiet and excellent young
man.
He first went to work for a Mr
Langdale, a Distiller at Mitcham. It
may seem hard to imagine now, but in
the 18th and 19th centuries the
activity for which Mitcham was best
known was the cultivation of
medicinal and aromatic herbs and the
distillation of essences and perfumes.
The Langdale estate also contained a
conservatory, hot house, grapery, lawn,
pleasure grounds and a garden and it is
pretty certain that is where William
Duncan was put to work.
William Duncan is also known to have
worked in the gardens of Robert
Thornton who owned a large house
and substantial garden on the South
Side of Clapham Common .The ruins
of the summer house built like a
Corinthian temple can still be seen
but that is all that remains. At that
time the gardens in that area were
very beautiful and it is sad to think of
their subsequent destruction.
In January 1807 William Duncan went
to work for Mr William Chivers a
retired wine merchant aged 86. It is
clear that in retirement Mr. Chivers
had put his all into the care of his large
garden which extended from Clapham
The employment lasted only 10 days.
On Wednesday 21st January Mr.
Chivers accused William Duncan
of having spoilt his vine and ordered
him to leave the following Saturday.
This would have been a terrible
setback for the young man because
references were extremely important
then as now. On the Saturday there
was a confrontation and Duncan
struck Chivers with a garden spade
and killed him. Duncan was arrested
and taken straight to the Justices who
sat in the French Horn Inn which then
stood on the South Side of East Hill
Wandsworth. They committed him to
Horsemonger Lane prison was located
near to Newington Causeway SE1 and
where prisoners were hung from the
roof for all to see. A grand funeral was
held for Mr. Chivers who is buried in
St. Margarets Church Yard, Lee,
London, SE13.
The trial took place in March at the
Surrey Assizes held in the old Town
Hall at Kingston. What sunk Duncan
was the evidence of a Mr Whitman,
baker of Battersea. This man had
helped arrest Duncan and said in
evidence that Duncan had confessed
to him that he had been planning to
kill Mr. Chivers since the Wednesday
when he was sacked. Which, if
believed, meant that the killing was
premeditated and therefore amounted
to murder. Duncan made an articulate
unsworn statement in his defence
from the dock saying that Chivers had
attempted to strike him with his cane.
Despite witnesses to good character
including Elizabeth Burnett from
Kemnay House in Scotland, Duncan
was convicted of murder and
sentenced to be hung the following
Monday 23rd March 1807.
What followed next was rather
remarkable. On the 22nd March 1897 a
collective petition was lodged and the
execution was deferred. Elizabeth
Burnett then set about to prove that
William Duncan was innocent of
murder. She was able to show that
Whitman had given various different
7
versions of events and that there were
many witnesses who had not been
called at the trial who could have
contradicted him. Mr. Thornton's
gardener stated that he and another
gardener had inspected the vine and
that, so far from being spoiled, the
vine had been as well pruned as the
vine would allow. Two other gardeners
who had worked for Mr Chivers stated
that the latter was "of a very fraxious
and worriting disposition” with a
"vexing and aggravating temper." Mr
Langdale's gardener added that
Chivers had a reputation for striking
his servants.
Duncan had been moved on 24th April
1807 to the Retribution prison hulk
which was moored near Woolwich so
he was probably put to work at the
dockyard which was then being built.
Conditions on these hulks were
appalling and on 25th April 1807,
possibly in desperation to end his life,
Duncan wrote a letter of confession to
murder. In any event this letter does
not seem to have been taken into
account, because the court decided
that there were grounds for clemency
as Duncan had never meant to harm
the victim "who had tried to strike
him and provoked him". Instead
Duncan was sentenced to
transportation for life.Sometime later
that same year, Elizabeth Burnett died
at the age of 67,so she never lived to
find out what happened to the man
whose life she had saved.
On 2nd July 1808 Duncan was one of
200 male convicts transported on the
ship the Admiral Gambier arriving at
Port Jackson ( Sydney) Australia on
20th December 1808. He was put on
the stores, i.e. victualled by the
government and assigned to a Colonel
Molle and became his Overseer.
(There is a newspaper report of
Duncan asking for the return of some
missing heifers belonging to his
employer). On the 2nd April 1816
Duncan was given a conditional
pardon and later that year he was
granted 80 acres of land in Tasmania
on the western side of the river
Derwent at a place called Glenurchy
(now a built up suburb of Hobart). On
12th December 1823 Duncan was
appointed a Glenurchy Constable!
The only other references to Duncan
is that by 1843 he had sold all his 80
acres but I have not been able to find
out where and when he died or
whether he ever got married or had
any children. Unfortunately the name
William Duncan is the Scottish
equivalent of the name John Smith in
England.
It is amazing that William Duncan
escaped execution. Elizabeth Burnett
worked tremendously hard to save him
as can be seen from the documents
held at the National Archives at Kew
which contain all the numerous
statements that she took, the skillful
summary of the evidence and even a
diagram of the lay out of the Justices
chambers and ante-room where one of
Whitman's contradictory statements
was made.
She would have made a very good
lawyer and if she had represented
Duncan at his trial the verdict could
well have been different.
Anne Stanesby
A.O.Hume -The Pope
of Ornithology (1829
– 1912)
On 21st April 2014 a small bird was
seen flitting about the scrubby areas of
Dungeness, Kent. This bird was had
whitish underparts and an olive green
back – the shape and behaviour of the
bird suggested it was a warbler but the
double wing bar pointed to it being a
vagrant and very far from home
(19,000 miles in fact). Some 165 years
earlier, also far from home, a 20 year
old Allan Octavian Hume arrived in
British India at the start of a
distinguished colonial career spanning
30 years, and as a political reformer
and founder of the Indian National
Congress. The connection between
these two observations is that the
warbler was identified as a Hume’s leaf
warbler (Phy!oscopus humei), a relative
of our chiffchaff, which normally
breeds in countries bordering Tibet
and overwinters in India; it was named
by William Brooks in 1878 in honour
of Allan Octavian Hume’s outstanding
contribution to Indian ornithology. In
common with Hume’s tawny owl (Strix
butleri), Hume’s wheatear (Oenanthe
alboniger); Hume’s lesser whitethroat
(Sylvia althaea); Wedge-billed wren
babbler (Sphenocichla humei), Hume’s
Groundpecker (Pseudopodoces humilis);
Hume’s short-toed lark (Calandre!a
acutirostris) and Mrs Hume’s
Pheasant (Syrmaticus humiae), his leaf
warbler is one of nine birds described
by or in honour of him (or obliquely
his wife); in all 13 taxa are named after
him. He has been called the father of
Indian Ornithology by some and, by
those who found him dogmatic,
as the Pope of Indian ornithology.
Hume’s introduction to ornithology
was probably via hunting as he was a
keen sportsman and some of his
earliest specimens are ‘game’ birds
intended for the table. However these
hunting pursuits soon assumed a more
academic dimension and he began to
amass a vast collection of eggs, nests
and skins of Asiatic birds totalling
63,000 specimens. He took
meticulous care to house and label
these specimens and spent £20,000 of
his own money (£2 million in today’s
money) building up a library and
museum in rooms added on to his
home at Rothney Castle, Simla in
the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh,
formerly the summer capital of British
India.
Another major intensification of his
ornithological work was the full time
appointment of W.R. Davison in 1872
who was Burmese and a gifted
naturalist who he sent away for
6-7months each year collecting and
preparing specimens; he also
accompanied Hume on his
expeditions. He was said to have an
excellent memory but a poor
communicator and according to Hume
‘he preferred the gun to the pen’. He
was with Hume for 10 years until ill
health curtailed his activities.
Hume made many expeditions to
collect birds both when he was on sick
leave and as and where his work took
him. As the Commissioner of Inland
Customs Hume and Director General
of Agriculture he was responsible for
the control of 2,500 miles of coast
from near Peshawar in the northwest
to Cuttack on the Bay of Bengal.
During his travels he made a
number of notes on various bird
species. His expedition to the Indus
area was one of the largest. In 1873, he
visited the Andaman and Nicobar
Islands in the Bay of Bengal, the
Laccadive Islands in 1875, and in 1881
8
he made his last ornithological
expedition to Manipur. These
expeditions were not low key affairs
and some involved 60 or so men.
Hume’s contempt for authority and
bureaucracy is borne out by his
comment that ‘the fundamental
principle of all public administration is
to get hold of a man for a particular
work who knows something about it,
and put him under a man (or men)
who know nothing about it, but who
conscientiously eager to earn their pay,
meddle and muddle in every case and
take care that nothing is done’. His
inability to suffer fools gladly led to
many a spat with fellow ornithologists
and politicians alike.
Like Darwin, Hume established a
network of coadjutors from various
parts of India and encouraged
sportsman to keep a diary and record
sighting and notes on bird (and other
wildlife) identification, distribution,
habits, migration etc. In 1872, to put
this collected information on record
he started a quarterly journal called
Stray Feathers – A journal of ornithology
for India and dependencies. This ran for
17 years (1872-1888) through 12 volumes
and contained 5,495 pages most of
which were written by Hume himself.
He used the journal to publish
descriptions of his new discoveries on
his own observations as well
as writing critical reviews of all the
ornithological works of the time. In
1873 Hume published Nests and e$s of
Indian Birds, followed by a wellillustrated Game Birds of India, Burma
and Celon illustrated by C.H.T.
Marshall who described Hume as
‘beyond all doubt the greatest
authority on ornithology of the Indian
Empire’. The Indian ornithological
co!ector’s Vade Mecum was published by
Hume in 1874. The culmination to his
academic studies was to have been ‘A
Conspectus of the avifauna of India
and its dependencies’ drawn from the
vast amount of data he had
accumulated over 25 years of
observation. In 1884 he vacated his
house leaving it in the care of servants
only to find, to his horror on his
return, that all his papers,
manuscripts, correspondence
(weighing several hundredweight) had
been sold as waste paper at the local
bazaar by a disgruntled servant who
broke into the museum to steal them.
Hume never got over this cataclysmic
event which all but
killed off his interest in
ornithology. He writes
‘I have no heart to
undertake a rewrite, for
ornithology no longer
has the interest for me
it once had’. His last
piece of ornithological
writing was done in
1891 as part of an
Introduction to the
Scientific Results of the
Second Yarkand
Mission, an official
publication on the
contributions of Dr Ferdinand
Stoliczka, who died during the return
journey of this mission.
Hume decided to offload his
collection and offered it to the British
Museum which showed little initial
interest in it although he could have
sold it to America for £10,000.
Eventually peer pressure and the
deteriorating state of the collection
forced the British Museum (Natural
History) to send out Bowdler Sharpe
to supervise the packing and transport
of 18,500 eggs, 500 nests, 63,000 bird
skins including 2,830 birds of prey,
1,155 owls, 2,145 waders, 813 parrots,
2,120 sand grouse, 2000 sunbirds and
white-eyes. The collection included
258 skins of type specimens. 20,000
items had to be disposed of because of
infestation or poor preservation.
There was a small but significant
collection of 400 mammals which was
described as ‘one of the finest
collection of mammals received by the
museum’. In all 47 half ton packing
Hume’s leaf warbler Phylloscopus humei.
Photo : downloaded from the Internet
crated had to be transported from
Hume’s museum 7,500 feet up in the
mountains to the local railway station
and thence to London. This material
now resides in the Tring branch of the
British Museum where it is of major
interest to anyone researching Asian
avifauna.
Hume’s scientific work continued
when he returned in retirement to
England and he transferred his vigour
and industry to the study of botany as
documented previously in the SLBI
Gazette.
References
Biographies for Birdwatchers by Barbara
and Richard Mearns (1988) Academic
Press ISBN 0-12-487422-3
Lecture notes from Hume’s
ornithological activities in India by Nigel
Collar. Birdlife International delivered
23rd October 2012 at the Natural
History Museum, South Kensington.
Bob Francis
Gazette Items
Articles or enquires should be
emailed to
rbrtfranc@gmail.com or sent c/
o The South London Botanical
Institute. Copy for January
should be with the editor by
mid December
9
Ashtead Common,
Surrey SLBI field
meeting July 2014
A field meeting of the SLBI was held
on 5th July 2014 to Ashtead Common,
Surrey, a National Nature Reserve
owned and run by the Corporation of
London since 1989/1990. Ashtead
Common is some 500 acres and there
has been active management since
1990 using Sussex red cattle that come
from time to time to graze. The
Corporation also manages other
pasture woodland sites of Burnham
Beeches, Bucks, and Epping Forest,
Essex as well as grassland sites on the
North Downs. There are many old
oak pollards, additional dead standing
wood from a fire and the NNR
designation is from its rich insect
fauna in dead wood, particularly
beetles. The common is immediately
behind Ashtead railway station and
free trail leaflets are obtainable from a
dispenser outside the reserve office. A
previous visit was arranged in July 2013
for the British Naturalists’ Association
and the species recorded were broadly
similar.
Ashtead Common is a sloping site
rising from Wood Field in the valley of
the Rye Brook to the ancient oak
woodland on the skyline to the west.
The high ground consists of London
Clay that has a somewhat acid and
poorly drained soil. This clay is a
challenging environment as it can be
waterlogged in wet weather or baked
hard and dry with large cracks in the
rides in times of drought. River gravels
and alluvium lie on top of the bedrock
in Wood Field and the brook, arising
from the chalk of the dip slope of the
North Downs near Epsom, brings
somewhat calcareous water to the site.
The main village of Ashtead lies on
higher ground of the Lambeth Beds to
the east with the smaller settlement of
Lower Ashtead on the fringes of the
common. In the past commoners’
rights would have been exercised and
the common an important part of the
local economy of a then rural
population of traditional ways.
Wood Field
Our investigations started by the ditch
and tall vegetation along Wood Field
Road with sallow, greater willowherb
and hard rush. Further tall vegetation
by the Rye Brook produced more
greater willowherb with yellow flag
and pendulous sedge. Wood Field was
an interesting patchy grassland with
damp indicators including soft, hard,
compact, toad and slender rushes, the
latter being an introduced species that
is spreading and is also found on
Wimbledon Common. In damp
hollows were grey plants of
sneezewort with white flowers that are
in the same genus as yarrow but with
simple elongate rather than feathery
branched leaves. Soft and compact
rushes have a broad, continuous pith
and were used for making rush lights
in the eighteenth century as described
by the Reverend Gilbert White in The
Natural History of Selborne (1789) and
William Cobbett in Rural Rides (1820).
Curiously no-one found common
spotted orchid that was found last
year on the preparatory visit of 8th July.
Greater Yellow-rattle
One feature of this field is the
abundance of good patches of yellowrattle, a hemi-parasite that attaches to
the roots of grasses for water and
minerals, although it has green leaves
and makes its own food by
photosynthesis. Later in the month
last year there were patches where the
grasses had been stunted and were not
flowering when amongst the yellowrattle. The plant could be a useful
management tool for conservation in
Greater Yellow-rattle (Rhinanthus
angustifolius) at Ashtead.
Phot0: J. Chatfield.
O’Farrell who pointed out that the
greater yellow-rattle Rhinanthus
augustifolius was known to be here.
This is a larger plant with narrower
leaves and the lower lip of the flower
horizontal instead of dipping down
into a beak as for the more common
species, hence the genus name
meaning “nose flower”.
Referring to The New Atlas of the British
Flora (Pearman et al.,2002) in the SLBI
Library, the greater yellow-rattle is an
annual root parasite that was once a
widespread agricultural weed in the
east of England but the remaining
sites are now in grassland and scrub on
chalk. It is a Neophyte, a
comparatively recent introduction,
that was first recorded in the wild in
1724. However, nearly all of the
pre-1970 sites were lost by 1930
following a general trend in decline of
arable weeds. It was not recognised on
the North Downs until 1966 by Ted
Lousley. In his Flora of Surrey (it is
illustrated on Plate 20 and described
as very rare on chalk grassland found
at Coulsdon and Chipstead near
Croydon. Lousley also said: R.
angustifolius is not easily distinguished
#om R. minor on the chalk. In Flora of
the London Area (Burton 1986) but
under the name R. serotinus confirms
this distribution and comments: There
is no knowing whether it went undetected
until 1966 because it had only recently
arrived or because it had gone unnoticed
among R. minor which is also at
Chipstead. This used to be #equent in old
grassland but is disappearing in step with
the ‘improvement’ of that habitat.... It is
interesting to note that the
Corporation of London manage some
chalk grassland in the Coulsdon area
with the same cattle that are used at
Ashtead so that might be the link with
Ashtead. Very recently Jovita Kaunang
and Graham Collins have found it at
Warren Farm, Nonsuch, that is former
arable land now calcareous grassland
not far away. It would be useful to reexamine herbarium material of
Rhinanthus from old collections.
The Common
controlling rank grass for
conservation. At the time of the BNA
visit in later July 2013 the flowering
was largely over with brown dry seed
pods demonstrating the rattling
sound. This time we were at the peak
flowering time and it was Frances
A good network of way-marked paths
allows the common and woods to be
explored. The afternoon was spent
following a wide grassy ride through
the semi-open scrubby area to the oak
pollards but further exploration was
curtailed through another belt of rain.
10
Damp poorly drained London Clay
with an acid soil yielded Lesser
Spearwort in puddles, grey leaves of
marsh cudweed and various rushes
with marsh bird’s-foot trefoil and
marsh thistle in the taller vegetation at
the side where there was also a good
deal of bracken. This would have been
kept in check through its use for
animal bedding in the days of active
commoning.
Animal life
An attractive caterpillar of the knot
grass moth was found on grey willow
by the ditch in Wood Field Road. In
spite of its name these cater pillars
feed on a wide range of herbaceous
plants and shrubs, including willows
but they emerge into a less spectacular
brown moth. The knot grass moth
typically lives on commons and occurs
throughout Surrey (Collins, 1997). The
six-spot burnet, a colourful red and
black day-flying moth, was on the
wing in Wood Field nectaring on
various flowers while their empty pupa
cases, were attached to stems of
plants. Also on the wing during sunny
spells were butterflies: meadow brown,
ringlets and skippers whose
caterpillars feed on grasses and a small
tortoiseshell that breeds on stinging
nettles, preferring those in the sun. It
is good to see small tortoiseshell back
after some years of absence. A dark
bush cricket was found on shrubs
along the ride on the common. Soldier
beetles (Rhagonycha fulva) were present
on the sward and flower heads of
Wood Field and white-lipped snails
and Kentish snails on wayside
vegetation by the Rye Brook. All of
these animals depend on plants
directly or indirectly for food and
shelter.
galls so a gall survey would be good in
August some time.
Thanks are due to Sandra Evans, one
of the volunteers on the common, for
keeping us on the right track and also
for inviting us in to her bungalow to
escape the lunchtime shower so we
could eat in the dry supplied with
coffee and tea. There is an active team
of volunteers working with Rangers on
Ashtead Common and details can be
downloaded from their website.
Adjacent to Ashtead Common and of
equal extent is Epsom Common but
with different geology offering
contrasting habitat with some heathy
vegetation on the sands and large
ponds. It would be worth a field day
some time to explore Epsom
Common.
June Chatfield
Herbarium Plant
Mounting Workshop
25th January 2014
The workshop organised by Petra
Broddle ran in two sessions one in the
morning and another in the afternoon.
The morning session, which I
attended, was full to capacity and
everyone had not only enjoyed
themselves but had learned the basics
of mounting and handling herbarium
specimens.
The specimens were all from a
collection left to Petra and handed on
to the SLBI on the death of Howard
Davies. It is important to freeze all
donated specimens on arrival so as to
remove the risk of further damage by
pests and contaminating of other
specimens in the herbarium. Samples
which had suffered damage and were
not worth preserving were disposed of
leaving a great many well preserved
specimens suitable for mounting.
Under supervision this was done by
people with little or no experience.
Petra had assistance of a friend from
the Kew Herbarium where the pace of
work of mounting specimens is one
which none of us could have hoped to
attain. We were taught about the
handling of specimens, about the
materials and tools needed the
arrangement of plants on sheets and
the preservation of written
information.
Handling Specimens - plants being
dry and brittle have to be kept as flat
as possible.
Materials and Tools - use acid free
paper and water soluble glue. Brushes,
sponges and warm water are used
during mounting. Large quantities of
absorbent paper such as newspaper
and sandbags are used for pressing
mounted specimens during drying out
period.
Arranging Plants on Sheets arrangement should be aesthetically
pleasing as well as providing necessary
information for botanists such as
displaying all available parts of the
plant, the name of collector, location,
date of collecting and any species
identification.
Preservation of Written
Information - most specimens in
Howard’s collection were meticulously
Plant galls also provided some
interest, particularly the bracken gall
Chirosia grossicauda. Looking at
bracken fronds, some of the pinnae
seemed rather short and this was due
to rolling up caused by a fly that lays
its eggs in the tips of the pinna. It is
very easy to spot in July and August
and was abundant in many places in
2013. With English oak as the
dominant tree on the higher parts of
the common, there was evidence of
artichoke galls and marble galls both
formed by tiny gall wasps. It was
however rather early for many of the
Specimen being prepared for the herbarium Photo : Jenny Neal
11
marked many with tags attached to
the specimen. It was emphasised that
each one should be carefully preserved
together with the plant, if it was
sound, to which it was attached.
The Pros and Cons of Different
Mounting Methods
While some basic principles applied
to all aspects of mounting such as acid
free, paper, and glue, those with
experience had their own preferences
in using either glue to fix specimens to
the paper or using paper hinges or
thread for this purpose. Both
methods were demonstrated and the
reasons explained for using one
method over another. In this
workshop glue was used by everyone.
Many of those who attended the
workshop had collections of their own
and wanted to learn the best way of
preserving them. The collection used
for the workshop contained examples
of what happens to specimens over
time if they are not kept in excellent
conditions and t cease to be of value
to botanists.
*
*
*
I Tyszkiewicz It’s minus 40oC
degrees at Kew!
Here at the South London Botanical
Institute we are proud that our
Herbarium contains over 100,000
specimens of dried flowers and
grasses. But did you know that the
Kew Gardens Herbarium contains a
staggering 7.5 million specimens made
up of 250,000 type of specimens?
These are some of the interesting facts
that a group of SLBI staff and
volunteers discovered in April on a
fascinating visit to the Kew
Herbarium and Library.
The Victorian wing is the oldest part
with specimens stored in wooden
cabinets. Large windows avoided the
need for gas light (which was a fire
hazard) but means there are numerous
entrance points for insects that could
easily ruin Kew’s priceless collection.
The newer purpose built wings are
easier to maintain with metal cabinets
and state-of-the-art temperature and
humidity control. In total there are
160 insect traps which are changed
four times per year, so creepy crawlies
beware! The collection is categorized
in five geographic regions and we were
delighted to see a herbarium specimen
associated with Charles Darwin.
These days new samples are obtained
by specialist research teams who have
special permission to conduct
vegetation surveys, for example in a
country prior to mining operations
(with an agreement that the plants are
re-introduced afterwards). We saw
boxes with new collections from
Borneo.The Kew collection grows by a
mammoth 35,000 specimens each year
so they have to keep building new
wings as their cupboards fill up.
herbarium swap shop”. Specimens are
loaned to overseas organizations for
their research and Kew receives loans
for study by its researchers. New
additions to Kew’s permanent
collection start their journey by going
into a giant walk-in freezer where the
temperature is reduced to -40o C
(SLBI’s freezer is -20oC). All together
it is a complex and impressive
operation with strict controls and
attention to detail. Finally we saw new
specimens being prepared and
mounted to go into Kew’s Herbarium.
After lengthy training, staff are able to
mount up to 35 specimens per day.
Kew’s Herbarium is outstanding and
plays a vital role for the nation. Our
(SLBI) collection is on a very different
scale, but has its own special charm
and story to tell – we are open on a
Thursdays (from 10am-4pm) or at
other times by appointment.
The Collection Management Unit
processes 62,000 specimens per year.
This includes an amazing “global
Christine Shepherd
Photo : Petra Broddle
This blasted heath – the future of lowland heathland, acid grassland
and mire.
Free public lecture series, Autumn 2014.
Friday evenings, 18:30, Oct 10th to Nov 14th 2014, Birkbeck University of London.
In Act I of “Macbeth”, Shakespeare used a heath near Forres as the forbidding setting of a supernatural encounter.
Heaths have long had a bad public image. Most heaths are ancient. They were established when woodland was
cleared in places with an underlying geology forming an impoverished acidic soil, and maintained by traditional
practices. However, they are diminishing throughout the country, even if pockets are still to be found in the
southern counties and in the suburbs of London. These remnant heathlands are now much valued as natural open
spaces. They are precious because they support a specialised biota, some of which is not found elsewhere. Loss may
occur from ecological succession following the neglect of traditional management, or conversion to agriculture or to
urban development. How can the remaining patches be saved? How can these important areas be managed to best
effect? Management practices in different sites will be discussed and compared. Current problems will be
highlighted and specialised conditions for particular groups of plants and animals discussed.
This is an advance notice of the lecture series. Details of the six individual lectures and of the venue will be
available later. To receive this further information please reply to ecssoc@gmail.com or consult the website http://
www.bbk.ac.uk/geds/our-research/ecss/free-public-lectures
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