9
Clay. Locally, however, when a road is
widened or a bend shouldered, layers of
unweathered chalky-boulder-clay are exposed
and for a while a type (ii) community may
develop, accounting for the sporadic
occurrence of Sulphur Clover colonies out-
side the main area of its distribution.
The aim of the 1984 survey was to create a
baseline of data to enable us to monitor
the rate of decline of verge species, such
as: Rockrose, Clustered Bellflower, Sulphur
Clover, Restharrow, Greater Burnet Saxifrage,
Yellow-rattle, Marjoram and Lesser Calamint.
Some six 10 x 10 km squares were thoroughly
surveyed during July. In June and July
1986 we hope to complete the surveying of
outstanding squares and would welcome volun-
teers who would like to spend a week of their
summer holidays mapping all the verges in a
10 x 10 km square.
Fortunately, the chalky-boulder-clay verge
species are capable of colonising raw,
freshly exposed chalky-boulder-clay, unlike
meadow, marsh and fen communities, for
example, which require hundreds (if not a
thousand) of years of soil build-up. Thus,
if some of our verges were scraped down to
the unweathered subsoil, allowed to colonise,
and given just one annual cut in September
to remove rank growth (the cuttings being
removed to prevent mulching), we could easily
recreate them in all their glory, and a low
maintenance sward would evolve, unable to
support tall, rank species such as Cow Pars-
ley, and need not, therefore, be cut at all
during the growing and flowering season.
We live in hope that one day this will happen
Some day, just as in the case of the garbage