Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Gillham noted in an article on the vegetation of coastal gull colonies (1964) that 'Patches of sorrel, dock,
chickweed and hogweed on Worms Head, indicate more precisely than any map where gulls once nested'
(Table 8).
The unusual character of the grasslands on the steep strike slopes of the north-facing side of the Inner
Head is due to the area once being the site of a herring gull colony, which was abandoned as a result of
increasing visitor pressure in the 1960s. The colony had already decreased substantially as a result of egg
collecting during the Second World War, from a recorded peak of around 1,000 pairs in 1941 to only 460
pairs by 1945. In addition to the above species hogweed, creeping thistle, sheep's sorrel and curled dock
Rumex crispus
arealsotypical colonists ofthenitrogen-enriched soilsofseabirdcolonies andtheypersist
here long after the colony was deserted.
TABLE
8.
Plants recorded from Worms Head gull colonies in June 1963. (Adapted from Gillham, 1964;
names updated)
COMMON NAME
SCIENTIFIC NAME
Sea campion
Silene uniflora
Sea mouse-ear
Cerastium diffusum
Common chickweed
Stellaria media
Knotgrass
Polygonum aviculare
Sheep's sorrel
Rumex acetosa
Curled dock
Rumex crispus
Sea beet
Beta vulgaris
ssp.
maritima
Spear-leaved orache
Atriplex prostrata
Common mallow
Malva sylvestris
Common bird's-foot-trefoil
Lotus corniculatus
Hogweed
Heracleum sphondylium
Common nettle
Urtica dioica
Thrift
Armeria maritima
Field bindweed
Convolvulus arvensis
Ribwort plantain
Plantago lanceolata
Sea mayweed
Tripleurospermum maritimum
Groundsel
Senecio vulgaris
Lesser burdock
Arctium minus
Spear thistle
Cirsium vulgare
Creeping thistle
Cirsium arvense
Golden samphire
Inula crithmoides
Perennial sow-thistle
Sonchus arvensis
