Working in conjunction with Kent Botanical Recording Group is helping to conserve some of the rare flora of Kent’s waterways. Read the article below.

Sue Buckingham of Kent Botanical Recording Group helps with plant i.d. during a survey.

A rare plant has been recorded on Supperton Dyke, a botanically rich channel that forms part of Preston Marshes SSSI. Kent Botanical Recording Group working in partnership with the River Stour Internal Drainage Board surveyed the channel, managed by the board in the summer of 2016 and found a hybrid of carex x prolixa, a type of tufted sedge previously recorded at only a handful of places in Britain.
Carol Donaldson, who has been biodiversity advisor to the River Stour Internal Drainage Board since 2010 set up the partnership and uses the information gathered to tailor management, such as weed cutting and de-silting to each individual watercourse.
“Many rare plants are under recorded,” says Carol. “The IDB can help recording groups gain access to areas that would otherwise be out of reach. Working with the Kent Botanical Recording Group expands knowledge of Kent’s flora and helps the Drainage Board to manage the channels with the needs of these species in mind as well as protecting against flooding.”
Other scarce plants found in IDB channels during surveys last year include tubular water dropwort, hairlike pondweed and small pondweed, which was only the fifth record for this species in Kent.