Pilwort

Our volunteers have been busy surveying areas of the reserve looking for some of the more unusual plants that are found here. Pilwort, an unusual aquatic fern, is known to grow on the wetland and its presence helped us join the Flagship Pond Scheme last summer. This scheme recognises the top 1% of ponds in the country in terms of their value for wildlife, recognising areas with a rich biodiversity and supporting rare plants.

Pilwort is an internationally threatened species; it is fantastic to see it thriving in this habitat here at Foxglove. It is quite hard to spot because it has thin, grass-like leaves and often grows with water grasses or small rushes. It takes its name from ‘pills’ which are tiny round spore cases at the bases of the stems.

 In other news make sure you are in tomorrow for the six o’clock news as Foxglove will feature on BBC Look North!