An update on the distribution of the Oxlip Primula elatior (L.) Hill in Essex
RAY TABOR
The Essex Wildlife Trust, Abbotts Hall Farm, Great Wigborough, Colchester, Essex C05 7RZ
Introduction
In the 2001/2002 Essex Naturalist (Volume 19, New series) the results of a survey of the distribution
of Oxlip Primula elatior in Essex were reported. That paper indicated that a number of sites (not
including two for which permission to survey had been refused) were due to be visited in 2003 since
they could not be fully surveyed in 2002. In addition, during the period after the results of the 2002
survey were published, the Trust was made aware of further potential sites containing the plant. This
paper updates the Oxlip's distribution in the county using results from 16 sites surveyed during 2003.
2003 Survey
The methods used, data collected, and notation of the records is exactly that used in the 2002
paper. The results show, in order:
> The 10 km square containing the site;
> Site name and parish;
> Six figure map reference;
> Size of the site in hectares, followed in brackets by the number of hectares either planted or
grubbed out;
> Any historical records of the plant on the site, together with their date;
> The 2003 records and an estimate of the size of the Oxlip population on the site.
Additional records were also taken of the percentage of plants producing flowers and the percentage
of flower heads eaten off. Those sites that have been starred (*) appear in the NCC (now English
Nature) 1982 Inventory of Ancient Semi-natural Woodland Sites. The Oxlip is a very strong positive
indicator of these ancient sites (there is only one record, from a site at Stansted Airport, of a
handful of plants being translocated to a site where none existed before). As a result sites with a
strong population of Oxlips, and yet which do not appear on the EN list, may repay further
investigation into their status and history.
Results of 2003 survey
TL 42
Crouch Hill Wood, Manuden: 492275; 2 hectares; 2003: present; 101-1000 plants. T.M.
The Hall Wood, Manuden: 494274; 2 hectares; 2003: present; 101-1000 plants. T.M.
Hazel End Wood, Stansted: 495239; 18 hectares; 2003: not found. T.M.
TL 52
Catherine Grove, Rickling Green: 504296; 7 hectares; 2003: not found. T.M.
TL 53
Pounce Hall Wood*, Saffron Walden: 559388; 14 hectares (14planted); 1881- Christy studied
Oxlip pollination on this site; 2002 / 2003: present; 11-100 plants - conifers and Beech have
reduced the ground flora. T.M.
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 20 (2003)
231