Dumfriesshire Botany Group at Annan, 12th July 2026

It was a bright sunny day when nine of us met at the Everholm car park at Annan. The aim for the day was to walk up the west side of the river to add records to a number of monad squares. Some of these had some records, one had no records at all. In some cases we only recorded a small corner of a square while in others it was a longer section. In total by the end of the day we had lists from 5 monads.

In this area the River Annan is near to the point it becomes tidal so is a mature river with deep water and gravel banks. In places it flows on bed rock. The water was quite clear.

One of the challenges for exploring the river here is that two footbridges north of Annan have been washed away in recent years. So that a circular route is not possible unless, like the Brampton walkers we met in the car park, you walk to Brydekirk which is the next crossing point upstream.

After crossing the river on the road bridge in Annan we walked through the first field quite quickly as there were stock. We did not record the first section as that fell into a square mostly across the river with a good number of records. But towards the top of the field we recorded a sliver of NY1866. Most things were along the river bank or in the river. Most notable probably was Perfoliate Pondweed Potamogeton perfoliatus in the river, fished out by Bob with his net, the Smaller Cat’s-tail Phleum bertolonii, a grass of older less improved grasslands and Goats-beard Tragopogon pratensis with the large “clock” of dandelion like seeds.

We quickly moved into another square, NY1867, which had no previous records. It had just a sliver of land along the riverside. We found similar things here given it was part of the same old field system. So in addition to those in NY1866 other notable things were Hemlock Water-dropwort Oenanthe crocata, Water Figwort Scophularia auriculata, Wood Stitchwort Stellaria nemorum and in the river Stream Water-crowfoot Ranunculus penicillatus. These were seen in subsequent squares.

We spent longer in the next square NY1967 which had a longer stretch of riverside and took us under the A75. There was woodland in this section, including shaded rock exposures as well as riverside habitat. On the riverside we added Common Spike-rush Eleocharis palustris, Common Valerian Valeriana officinale, Meadow Crane’s-bill Geranium pratense, Reed Sweet-grass Glyceria maxima, Amphibious Bistort Persicaria amphibia and Wood Club-rush Scirpus sylvaticus. In the woodland there was Hart’s-tongue Asplenium scolopendrum, Pyrenean Valerian Valeriana pyrenaica, Ramsons Allium ursinum and Dog’s Mercury Mercurialis perennis. Among the trees both Eastern Crack-willow Salix euxina and Hybrid Crack-willow Salix alba x euxina were present. Less welcome was the presence of Japanese Knotweed Reynoutria japonica and Himalayan Balsam Impatiens gladulifera.

We took lunch on the riverbank in the shade of trees. There were both Banded Demoiselle Calopteryx splendens and Emerald Damselfly Lestes sponsa flying up an down in front of us.

The afternoon took us further up river into NY1968. Many of the same things were seen again but in addition for example we saw the Des Etangs’ St John’s-wort Hypericum maculatus x perforatum (H. x destangsii), young yet to flower Autumn Hawkweed Hieracium sabaudum and Giant Fescue Schedonorus giganteus.

The final part of the afternoon visited a wooded area in NY1868, a square with few previous records. This had some under shrubs like Gooseberry Ribes uva-crispa and Blackcurrent Ribes nigrum and some different herbs like Greater Celandine Chelidonium majus (probably originally a garden escape), Wood Speedwell Veronica montana and Intermediate polypody Polypodium interjectum. An interesting find was Stingless Nettle Urtica dioica subsp. subinermis. The obvious difference is that it has few if any stinging hairs and the leaves are longer. Simon was brave enough to hold it while I photographed it.

The total records made in the squares: NY1866 – 38, NY1867 – 38, NY1967 – 127, NY1868 – 80, and NY1968 – 89.

Chris Miles

BSBI county recorder for Dumfriesshire VC73 – see bsbi.org/dumfriesshire