The vascular plant flora of the anthills at Old Hall Marshes
TERRI TARPEY
33 Bristol Road, Colchester, Essex CO1 2YU
Introduction
I recently (Tarpey 2001) explained how the Colchester Natural History Society (CNHS) is under-
taking a long-term wildlife survey of Old Hall Marshes nature reserve for the Royal Society for
Protection of Birds (RSPB). In the previous article the bryophyte flora of the anthills on the reserve
was detailed and this article covers the vascular plants. Anthill habitat is shown in Plate 11.
Recording
Tarpey (2001) sets out details on the selection and location of anthills included in this study; in brief
there arc 14 plots (labelled A to N) each with 10 anthills making a total of 140 anthills. As with the
bryophytes the vascular plants were recorded using the Domin scale to provide an assessment of
percentage cover, details of which are listed in Table 1 below.
Table 1. Domin scale for percentage cover
Value Domin
1