25 October 2009 Tor Grass, Brachypodium pinnatum

8 June 2007 Anchor Bottom

3 June 2007
 

Location:  1-3 Downs Link, extreme south. Chalk and railway ballast. 4 Slonk Hill Cutting North, chalk bank.

The long grasses were thinly spaced (illustrated above) and abundant just west of the ridge on the very steep slopes of Mill Hill. I am not sure of the species. They could be Fescues, Festuca ?  (This area is popular for the Small Heath Butterflies and used as a roosting area for the Chalkhill Blues in summer.)

Ecological habitat note: there is a difference between "improved pastures" where the natural herb flora is destroyed by herbicides and nutritious grasses are seeded/sown to improve the land for hay meadow or pasture. Mill Hill is "unimproved" and has not been sown or artificially managed in this way.

Series: BSBI HANDBOOKS 13
Tom Cope and Alan Gray
612 pages, 220 full page illustrations.
Botanical Society of the British Isles

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