ANNUAL UPDATE NUMBERS 1-3

(included to bring records up to date)

Weather report for December 2005

A generally dull, cold, windy, month, with winds mainly in the South-west for the first week and East to North-east for most of the remainder of the month.

No temperatures were actually below zero at Platte Saline, but wind chill factors made it feel much colder in the later part of the month. Altogether a dismal end to a year in which August, (with 330.9 hours), was the sunniest month since 1955.

Rainfall total was 119mm below last year and 94mm below the 20-year average, whilst total sunshine, although well below the December average, was still 36 hours above 2004 and 135 hours above the long-term average.

Figures for comparison with December last year and the 20-year average

Year	2005	2004	20-year average
			1986-2005
Rain mm.	74.9	61.8	94.7
Sun hrs.	51.8	34.6	51.8
Max. temp recorded °C	12.7	13.2	14.3
Min. temp recorded	0.3	2.8	1.8
Mean day temp	8.9	9.3	10.1
Mean night temp	8.6	9.0	7.8
Total rainfall for year mm.	639.6	758.8	733.6
Total sunshine for year hrs.	1967.9	1930.4	1832.6

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Annual Summary by month

Maximum figures in each line in red type, minimum in blue

Year 2005	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec	TOTAL
Temp. highest °C	12.70	11.4	16.80	18.30	24.40	27.40	24.40	23.00	23.90	20.90	17.30	12.70
Temp. lowest °C	4.40	0.40	1.20	4.20	3.20	10.50	13.20	10.90	9.20	8.40	4.00	0.30
Average daily Max.	9.20	6.60	8.70	9.90	13.20	16.60	18.10	18.70	17.70	16.20	11.00	8.90
Average daily Min.	9.00	6.30	7.60	8.70	11.00	14.50	16.40	16.20	16.20	15.40	10.40	8.60
Monthly mean °C	9.10	6.50	8.20	9.40	11.80	15.60	17.40	17.60	17.10	15.10	10.80	8.70
Rain mm.	42.76	44.31	38.40	68.35	71.61	41.18	51.96	32.75	34.57	69.30	69.58	74.87	639.64
Sun hrs.	44.63	69.57	114.52	202.90	221.93	274.99	267.70	330.89	187.55	114.89	86.54	51.81	1967.92

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Averages for the 20 years 1986-2005	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec	TOTAL
Temp. monthly max	12.82	12.44	14.59	16.38	20.61	22.80	23.05	24.05	21.78	18.99	16.22	14.27
Temp. monthly min	0.97	0.82	2.29	3.64	6.39	8.72	11.06	11.31	10.25	7.84	4.78	1.77
(Max	9.21	8.78	10.21	11.56	14.32	16.73	18.40	19.20	17.82	15.17	12.17	10.09
Average daily (Min	6.73	6.13	7.09	7.71	10.23	12.46	14.49	15.11	14.29	12.42	9.66	7.62
(Mean	7.92	7.45	8.67	9.65	12.30	14.60	16.52	17.19	16.13	13.78	10.90	8.85
Rain mm.	80.82	56.98	49.42	56.38	39.69	40.75	41.55	48.90	50.91	93.05	80.46	94.65	733.55
Sun hrs.	60.88	79.11	125.69	183.80	247.20	241.90	243.40	236.62	178.17	109.68	74.39	51.78	1832.63

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At this point a comparison of the annual summaries of all the available Alderney rainfall figures since 1865, which I have collected over the years, makes an interesting demonstration of the declining rainfall figures across the British Isles generally and no doubt across many other areas. The first figures 1865-71 were recorded at the Breakwater during its construction, the next block 1906-16 were recorded in Le Huret in St. Anne by the island Greffier. The next block from 1955-1980 at the Airport, those from 1982-97 at the Lighthouse and the remainder at my house on Platte Saline.

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Alderney Botanical Report 2005

Alderney is the top area in the British Isles for Wild Flowers !!

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As many readers will know, for the purposes of wildlife recording the British Isles have been divided since Victorian times into 113 Vice-Counties (VCs). These largely follow the old county boundaries, with very large counties like Yorkshire divided into two VCs.

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The Botanical Society of the British Isles, (BSBI) follow this system, with the whole country divided into "hectads" of 10Km. squares, more or less following the physical (former) county boundaries and each VC has one or more "recorders" Our duties are to confirm, correlate and record the records of plant sightings submitted by both local and visiting botanists. The Channel Islands are all lumped together as VC 113, or "S" (for Sarnia), originally for 40+ years under a single recorder, the late David McClintock, to whom the leading local botanists submitted their records, but, for the last 12 years or so, each now has their own recorder(s) of whom I act for Alderney, Bridget Ozanne for Guernsey and Roger Veall for Sark. Jersey has two recorders.

In 2003 Prof. Stace of Leicester University and 3 other eminent botanists published a 405 page "Vice-County Census Catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Great Britain, The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands", to which all of the BSBI recorders submitted their records of the plants found in their areas over the many years of their records.

A summary of the overall findings appeared in the September 2004 edition of BSBI News. This shows the total numbers of Wild Flowers recorded in each VC, divided into Native and Alien (naturalised) species (or taxa); the area of each VC in square kilometres; and the ratios of the number of plants per sq. km.

Surrey, with 2,409 taxa has the highest number of different species recorded in its 1,960 sq. km. area, giving a ratio of 1.229 species per sq. km., whilst Wester Ross in Scotland has only 902 taxa recorded in its huge area of 3,360 sq. km. and a ratio of only 0.275 species per sq. km. The average ratio for the whole UK is 0.955 species per sq. km.

The Channel Islands between them have 1,725 species found in their total area of only 194 sq. km. and thus have a ratio of 8.89 species per sq. km. The nearest similar number of taxa found in a UK VC is in Nottinghamshire, with 1,727 species in 2,180 sq. km. and a ratio of 0.792 species per sq. km.

Alderney with 1,042 species recorded since the first records were published in 1839 and approximately 900 still to be found today in its approximately 9 sq. km. area, thus has a ratio of at least 100 species per sq. km. if one includes only the current flora, rather than all the species ever recorded as is probably the case with the figures in this article for the UK and other Channel Island VCs.

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It is therefore obvious why Alderney, with a wild flower density more than 100 times that of the average UK VC and almost twelve times that of the other CIs, is of such interest to visiting botanists and other naturalists and, with the appropriate publicity, is therefore in an excellent position to attract large numbers of "wildlife tourists".

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This has long been noted and, in Marquand's "Flora of Guernsey and the Lesser Channel Islands" published in 1901, he was able to write; "Alderney is in several respects without a rival, even in this favoured archipelago........and a visitor will find here in a single day's botanising a larger variety of really rare plants than in either of the other [larger] Channel Islands. There are certainly not many places in England where, within an area of four square miles, a dozen plants may be found equal in rarity to the following:--" (a list followed, all of which and several more, now on the Endangered Species lists for the UK, are still to be found in the island today).

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2005 has been a very busy year for the Alderney Wildlife Trust, of which I am a Director and was the Hon. Treasurer from its formation in May 2002 until the AGM in May 2006, when I was elected President. We have acquired a new tractor with transport box, mower and trailer, etc., well suited to the many tasks required to improve and maintain some very rough and uneven ground, thanks to a generous interest-free loan from one member and the purchase of some additional equipment for it from another. Considerable progress has been made in the Trusts two Nature Reserves, designated by The States; (see the map elsewhere on this site to note their positions or click here for a link) Longis Common and most of the East coast, (the habitats of several rare and endangered species) and Val du Saou on the South coast, in removing encroaching bracken, gorse and bramble scrub in some parts, to allow the smaller (and more internationally important plants) to thrive in their proper habitats either of short, rabbit cropped turf, or under the indigenous deciduous trees which have been planted in newly cleared areas in Val du Saou. Several kms. of footpaths have been created or opened up again and marked in the reserves and grazing animals are helping to keep the invasive plants at bay. Much of the widespread and encroaching Reedmace or Lesser Bulrush, (Typha angustifolia) and New Zealand Pigmy-weed (Crassula helmsii) has been removed from Mannez pond when it was dry or almost dry and the latter has now been sprayed to try and prevent the Crassula recovering or spreading back in from the banks. Steps have been taken to raise the bank at the NE end of the pond, which should help to reflood the tiny meadow at the SW end in the winter and perhaps enable the former and only known colony in Alderney of Ophioglossum vulgatum (Adder's-tongue fern) to return.

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Alderney has now got its first "Ramsar" site registered with the UN, (a convention signed at Ramsar in Turkey, covering "Wetlands of International Importance"), only the second one in the Channel Islands so far. (See file Eco 14) or click the link in brackets. This consists of the whole of the West coast shoreline from some distance above the HWM and includes all the offshore islands and stacks from Burhou out to the Casquets. Inclusion under this convention does not in any way interfere with the traditional use of the area, but imposes an obligation on the States to ensure that nothing is done to destroy the present ecosystem.

The large amount of species surveying work necessary to prepare the document, which was then submitted to the UN by the States of Alderney, was carried out over about 18 months, at little expense to the States, by Trust members and several other experts who gave freely of their time. The site was included in the International Register in August. This has greatly increased our knowledge and record base of the various plant and animal groups which live in this area, and a number of new sites have been noted for plants in our existing flora, previously unrecorded here. It should also encourage eco-tourists.

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Much of this recording work has now been incorporated into the island Digimap system and Dr. Charles David and Bridget Ozanne, who run the recently established States of Guernsey Biological Records Centre in the old Tobacco Factory premises, have also given considerable assistance in this part of the work as well as in the surveying. In particular Dr. David is converting my own 11,852 plant records, each with a map reference based on the old yellow covered OS map issued by the States of Alderney, to the "true" GPS co-ordinates. It had been found that the gridlines on the older map were about 183m north and 140m west of their true spatial positions, thus placing some species found on the N and W coasts and beaches too far inland and those on the S and W out in the sea, using the existing co-ordinates, as well as moving all the other sightings based on that map within the island. I have now redrawn the UTM gridlines on the map of Alderney used in my various books and articles and on my website, to reflect these changes and make available to visiting naturalists, who wish to record their sightings, a map which would closely mirror the same co-ordinates as a handheld GPS machine at any given point. It is hoped that all of the 11,852 sightings recorded in my database will soon have their co-ordinates changed to bring them into line with the corrected positions. These revised maps are now available from the several links on this website.

The species surveys done for the Ramsar submission have also given us greater details of the taxa found in this part of the island in several groups of plants, notably seaweeds, lichens, liverworts and mosses, which have not received a great deal of published recording attention for several, or in some cases many, years. The same can be said of the many marine, littoral zone and 'coastal' animal groups. Several of the updated lists are now available on this site.

Little progress has yet been made with the preparation of a proper Wildlife Conservation Law, despite my many attempts in the last 15 years and those of others before me, so it will be some time yet before a draft law can be brought to the States for approval.

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I have not been able to spend a lot of time this year in routine recording, but have kept a careful eye on the sites of our locally rarer and nationally scarce or endangered plants. We seem to have finally lost the two colonies of Odontites verna (Red Bartsia) in the verges either side of the road across Longis Common, due to mowing on one side and encroachment by Carpobrotus on the other. Limonium normannicum (Alderney Sea-lavender) continues to thrive near Fort Houmet Herbé although the nearby colony of Aster tripolium (Sea Aster has become more fragmented and reduced). It has been a good year for Romulea columnae (Sand Crocus), Tuberaria guttata (Spotted Rock-rose), Orchis morio (Green-winged Orchid) and Anacamptis pyramidalis (Pyramidal Orchid). The single colony of Ophrys apifera (Bee Orchid) was badly damaged by the activities of 4WD vehicles climbing the steep bank and running directly over the colony, but a few specimens managed to recover and flower and a site barrier of rocks was created by Public Works to prevent further incursions. 14 plants were noted in June 2006 spread over an area of about 5 x 3 metres a short distance from the earlier site. A few plants of Geranium sub-molle (Alderney Geranium) have been noted at each of three sites and two plants of Dactylorrhiza praetermissa (Southern Marsh Orchid) once again appeared in Bonne Terre. .

Frequent mowing of both Braye Meadow and Platte Saline Common has again prevented most of the smaller plants from appearing in any numbers, including the Celandines and the Pyramidal Orchids. The usual crop of Calvatia gigantea (Giant Puffballs) have not been found (at least by me) on Platte Saline this autumn (2005), but Scleroderma verrucosum (Earthballs) have been plentiful and have spread considerably in several nearby lawn areas and even to wall bottoms and a cobbled gutter.

The influence on the flora of what is expected to be a very cold winter, especially on the naturalised alien species, will be observed with great interest in 2006.

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<Bee Orchid

,,,,,,,,,,....................................... Earthball in Le Petit Val gutter >

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ANNUAL UPDATE NUMBER 2

Alderney Nature Diary

(included to bring records up to date)

Weather report for December 2006

The heavy rainfall at both the beginning and end of the month lifted the year's total to only the 6th lowest since 1955, an improvement on the total up to the end of November which was the second lowest since 1955. The total for December alone was only the 12th highest amount since 1955. Gales and rain at the beginning of the month tended to be associated with low pressure and at the end of the month with unusually high pressure, in both cases from an average WSW direction. Sunshine was distinctly lacking in the last 10 days and was some 13 hours below the 20-year average for the month. However, since 1955 there have been 13 Decembers with less sun and many more years with lower annual totals.

There was only one really cold day (on Christmas Day), when the temperature remained just above 4ºC throughout the 24 hours, but still well above both last year and the average. Overall the temperatures were also above average.

Barometric pressure and wind speeds across the month were a bit higher than usual, whilst humidity was almost the same.

Figures for comparison with December last year and the 20-year average

Year	2006	2005	20-year average
			1986-2005
Rain mm.	118.1	74.9	94.7
Sun hrs.	39.0	52.6	51.8
Max. temp recorded °C	14.6	12.7	14.3
Min. temp recorded	4.0	0.3	1.8
Mean day temp	10.2	8.9	10.1
Mean night temp	9.9	8.5	7.6
Total rainfall for year to date, mm.	549.5	626.6	733.4
Total sunshine for year to date,hrs.	1904.1	1951.1	1832.6

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Comment on the 2006 Alderney Weather

I completed last year's report by saying "The influence on the flora of what is expected to be a very cold winter, especially on the naturalised alien species, will be observed with great interest in 2006."

A similar prediction has been made for this winter and certainly December 2006 seemed a lot cooler than usual for much of the month due to high winds, although the minimum temperature recorded was actually 2.2ºC above the average, and in the event, the year overall proved to be the second driest since 1952 and the late summer and autumn one of the warmest up to the end of November, with the lowest temperatures recorded well above average.

Annual Summary by month

Maximum figures in each line in red type, minimum in blue

MONTH	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec	TOTAL
Year 2006
Temp. highest °C	11.40	10.00	14.10	13.60	21.70	27.40	27.80	21.70	25.70	20.00	15.90	14.60
Temp. lowest °C	0.00	1.20	1.60	1.20	9.20	8.00	12.30	10.00	13.20	10.50	5.20	4.00
Average daily Max.	7.30	6.50	7.60	9.00	12.80	16.70	19.90	18.30	18.40	16.40	12.30	10.20
Average daily Min.	6.70	5.90	5.50	8.00	10.90	14.50	17.50	16.7	17.10	15.50	10.80	9.90
Monthly mean °C	6.90	6.30	6.80	8.90	12.50	16.10	19.80	17.9	17.30	16.00	10.60	10.00
Rain mm.	26.37	68.15	49.30	11.60	29.12	36.29	19.25	26.99	25.01	52.17	86.40	118.88	549.53
Sun hrs.	62.99	55.75	107.95	229.18	199.75	283.77	315.72	222.83	163.31	113.35	110.43	39.04	1904.07
Barometer highest mb.	1043	1041	1035	1032	1036	1040	1037	1031	1035	1037	1043	1051
Barometer lowest mb.	1006	988	990	1006	989	1016	1012	1001	1002	990	984	986
Barometer mean mb.	1029	1021	1016	1021	1021	1027	1025	1021	1019	1016	1021	1027
Humidity max. %	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Humidity min. %	75	78	79	79	71	76	64	67	69	81	79	75
Humidity average %	92.2	92.0	92.2	92.8	93.0	94.2	91.7	93.8	93.6	93.0	92.7	92.0
Wind direction mean °	139	145	162	223	197	145	176	255	203	219	211	212
Wind speed max kts.	40	50	44	38	42	30	30	26	36	42	46	56
Wind speed mean kts.	12.2	12.7	14.9	7.3	9.8	6.3	7.1	8.2	8.1	11.2	13.5	15.1

Averages for the 20 years 1987-2006	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec	TOTAL
Temp. monthly max	12.79	12.49	14.72	16.46	20.85	23.20	23.46	24.15	22.15	19.01	16.27	14.33
Temp. monthly min	0.89	1.00	2.37	3.66	6.60	8.72	11.18	11.41	10.56	8.00	4.79	1.82
(Max	9.09	8.88	10.13	11.54	14.28	16.76	18.53	19.25	17.94	15.21	12.14	10.06
Average daily (Min	6.77	6.38	7.12	7.88	10.34	12.65	14.71	14.48	14.58	12.63	9.74	7.78
(Mean	7.88	7.63	8.66	9.74	12.37	14.74	16.75	16.44	16.31	13.91	10.88	8.91
Rain mm.	75.15	59.52	47.85	54.44	38.71	39.42	41.44	45.90	49.47	92.78	79.91	94.53	719.12
Sun hrs.	61.57	78.87	124.90	186.34	245.89	244.74	249.58	237.63	178.18	110.43	75.57	50.27	1843.97

At this point a comparison of the annual summaries of all the available Alderney rainfall figures since 1865, which I have collected over the years, makes an interesting demonstration of the declining rainfall figures across the British Isles generally and no doubt across many other areas. The first figures 1865-71 were recorded at the Breakwater during its construction, the next block 1906-16 were recorded in Le Huret in St. Anne by the island Greffier. The next block from 1955-1980 at the Airport, those from 1982-97 at the Lighthouse and the remainder at my house on Platte Saline.

Note the steady decline of amounts in years of high rainfall, average rainfall or low rainfall, since 1955

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Alderney Botanical Report 2006

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Alderney Wildlife Trust

This year has been a very busy one for the Trust, (of which I was elected President in May after serving as Hon. Treasurer for the more than 4 years since it was formed) and, with two separate "wildlife weekends" in the Spring and Autumn and several organised events during Alderney week in August, many visitors and local residents have taken the opportunities to join Wildflower Walks, Rock pool visits and some of the Conservation Volunteer's activities, as well as functions connected with the island fauna, especially moth light-traps, bat walks and small mammal trapping.

It was especially encouraging to see the number of local youngsters who attended the various walks and functions and showed considerable interest in the ecology of their island, as well as the visitors. During the year one of the trust students, Nick Andrews, doing a 1- year work experience attachment during his degree course, paid particular attention to the junior members and established a good relationship with both the school teaching staff and the children which we hope to build on and extend during 2007.

We have also assisted the States in its attempts to improve the island water storage capacity, by a clearance programme in Bonne Terre behind the old Mill leat dam carried out by the Conservation volunteers. The careful transplanting of many plants of the rare (at least in the Channel Islands) Greater Tussock-Sedge and several fern species, to new sites away from the area expected to be inundated hopes to preserve most of them. In doing this we found well over 50 stools of the Tussock Sedge, some of them about 5 feet high and of considerable age, hidden in the vegetation upstream from the dam, which had become dense and almost impenetrable over many years. A further 20 or so were in the area nearer the dam which had been cleared of encroaching vegetation six years ago and I have found several young plants at the edge of the water downstream below the pumping station in the last 2-3 years.

Old Mill leat during clearance work, April 2000

Most of the area belongs to the Alderney Society, who have owned the derelict Watermill for many years and are now trying to revive it. The rebuilding of the water-wheel itself is well along the road to completion. The dam wall, has been extended and repaired by the States and about 1-metre thickness of silt removed from the area behind it to increase both the catchment area and depth and allow most of the silt to settle before it goes to the filters and pumping station further downstream. AWT are also managing two areas of, mainly States, land as Conservation areas, the larger of which is home to several of our Red Data Book rare or endangered species, and hope to add a third area during the current year.

During the year Lindsay Pyne, (LP), one of the Trust volunteers, has spent much time in familiarising herself with the island flora and has drawn my attention to two species not previously recorded and one not seen for many years, as well as noting new sites for several other species. Further details of these will be found below.

We have been fortunate to have Jennie Page, (JP), a recently retired biology teacher from Guernsey, move permanently to Alderney this summer. A friend of almost 25 years, from when I lived in Guernsey, she ran the Botanical Section of La Société Guernesiaise for many years, was closely associated with the late David McClintock and contributed many of the Bailiwick records to his Wild Flowers of Guernsey published in 1975 and to the Annual Transactions. of La Société. She has already contributed some new records to the Alderney list. She also organised and taught a Wild Flower evening class on Fruits and Seeds in the Guernsey Education Department's Adult Education programme at St. Anne's school this autumn, with associated Saturday morning walks, to put what we had learnt into practice in the field. About 10 people attended the first sessions and these will start again in the Spring, almost certainly with a larger class, as a lot of interest has been generated. I look forward to having her expert help in increasing our knowledge and distribution records of the island flora.

Further work on Alderney's Ramsar site has added to the records of both the terrestrial and maritime flora lists and those of various fauna, noted in the site area.

Several visits from Bridget Ozanne (also the Guernsey BSBI recorder) and Dr. Charles David, who run the recently set up Guernsey Biological Records Centre, have given further impetus to our recording and, thanks to Dr. David, my entire 11,800+ database of Alderney records since 1824, of which he has modified the grid references to account for a long term discrepancy between the grid references obtained from the States of Alderney map and the true satellite co-ordinates, can now be mapped, printed out and manipulated to produce various printed records and species distribution maps on both the GBRC and the Alderney Wildlife Trust Dismap and Digimap programmes. Paul Griffiths at Aditsite, who created my recording programme, has converted my former map references in that programme to fit into the corrected UTM grid positions and I have created a new A4 map, with the corrected grid on it. This can be obtained in printed form from the AWT office or downloaded from my website <flora.org.gg> (File Alderne.gif) and is now included in all new copies of my Alderney Flora lists, books and CDs.

In the past year I have produced a 256+ page book on CD-Rom A Very Wild Island. An outline of the Ecology of Alderney This is also available to special order as an A4 ring-bound computer print. A much expanded update to my 1988 Flora of Alderney booklet has finally made its appearance this week, now entitled The Wild Flowers of Alderney. About 250 pages with the several maps including the corrected island map and some colour photographs, this is in A5 size, ring-bound with laminated covers. All are available from the AWT office.

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New records

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Rosa x alba, The White Rose of York

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Rosa x alba, The White Rose of York, First noted by me in 1990 as a single large bush in a field hedge near the dip into Trois Vaux valley and obviously there for many years, has somehow escaped being included in our published or printed records until now.

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1st island record 2005;.

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Hypericum perforatum Perforate St. John's-wort. LP. July, on Ft. Albert Glacis. Still there; BB 1.7.2006

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1st island records 2006;

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Medicago sativa subsp. falcata Sickle Medick. LP. August, on grassy verge of track leading to Bibette Head alongside Campsite. 1 large plant in flower and seed.

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Oenothera cambrica Small-flowered Evening-primrose. ML, (Margaret Long, Jersey BSBI recorder). August. Several patches behind the sea wall at Platte Saline in old tipped soil and in 2 or 3 other sites for several years. Previously thought to be O. erythrosepala which does occur elsewhere in Alderney.

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Tetragonia tetragonioides New Zealand Spinach. JP. 11th November, grass verge in Val Fontaine, possibly a garden escape. Still in flower and with many seed pods.

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2nd island records 2006;

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Malva moschata Musk Mallow. LP. August. Mannez Quarry. Recorded in Marquand 1901. Last record, 2 plants 1932 AK Jackson.

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Allium sphaerocephalon; Round-headed Leek. LP. July. Waste ground alongside railway track opposite the Scots Pines on Mont Touraille. 8 plants. First record, .BB 1987, 2 plants Le Petit Val...

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Portulaca oleracea; Purslane. JP, 4th November. Small patch in line of a cable trench recently cut and filled in, across a grassy former pasture at Essex Farm, just above Longis Bay. First record ML 27.8.2001 in gravel at The Old Barn Restaurant, some 300m away from the new site. ..

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All records seen, photographed and confirmed by BB. .

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ANNUAL UPDATE NUMBER 3

Weather report for December 2007

Even with 15 dry days from 10th to 24th December and 2 others, rainfall almost equalled last year's and was 22mm up on the 20-year average. Since 1955 18 years have had a wetter December and 16 years have had more rain in total.

To compensate, sunshine was just over double that of last December and 30 hours above the long term average. Total for the year to date was 130 hours up on the 20-year average, making this the 9th sunniest year since 1955.

Barometric pressure, temperatures, humidity, wind speed and direction were all very similar to last year. The mean wind direction was again from the SW at around 15 knots.

Figures for comparison with December last year and the 20-year average

Year	2007	2006	20-year average
			1988-2007
Rain mm.	116.0	118.9	94.5
Sun hrs.	80.9	39.0	50.3
Max. temp recorded °C	14.1	14.6	14.3
Min. temp recorded	1.6	4.0	1.8
Mean day temp	8.9	10.0	8.9
Mean night temp	8.3	8.9	7.8
Total rainfall for year to date, mm.	775.0	549.5	719.1
Total sunshine for year to date, hrs.	1976.3	1904.1	1844.0

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Annual Summary by month

Maximum figures in each line in red type, minimum in blue

MONTH	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec	TOTAL
Year 2007
Temp. highest °C	13.60	13.60	15.50	19.10	18.60	25.70	22.60	23.00	22.60	18.60	15.90	14.10
Temp. lowest °C	3.20	4.00	2.80	4.40	8.40	10.00	11.40	12.30	10.50	7.80	2.40	1.60
Average daily Max.	10.00	9.70	9.50	13.60	14.00	16.60	17.20	18.10	17.00	14.70	11.70	8.60
Average daily Min.	9.90	9.00	8.40	10.40	11.80	14.20	15.60	16.50	15.10	13.80	11.20	8.30
Monthly mean °C	10.00	9.40	9.20	12.20	13.20	15.90	16.80	17.40	15.60	14.10	10.50	8.90
Rain mm.	75.57	128.78	59.68	12.00	60.39	66.20	52.99	79.65	19.38	34.09	70.28	116.03	775.04
Sun hrs.	31.88	79.61	167.79	256.46	202.27	199.50	274.40	245.81	201.51	163.77	72.67	80.58	1976.25
Barometer highest mb.	1044	1045	1048	1035	1030	1033	1030	1038	1041	1043	1043	1047
Barometer lowest mb.	1003	987	996	1014	994	1003	999	1002	1012	1016	993	987
Barometer mean mb.	1026	1013	1023	1028	1018	1018	1020	1023	1029	1030	1029	1028
Humidity minimum %	66	76	70	72	76	67	75	79	56	80	75	75
Humidity average %	91.9	92.7	92.8	93.8	93.3	93.7	93.3	93.8	90.4	92.9	92.4	92.1
Wind direction mean °	257	203	226	161	225	237	267	212	192	175	211	220
Wind speed max kts.	58	58	48	34	50	40	38	36	42	30	42	56
Wind speed mean kts.	16.6	14	12.7	8.2	11.2	11.2	10.1	8.7	8.5	7.8	10.5	14.9

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Averages for the 20 years 1988-2007	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec	TOTAL
Temp. monthly max	12.84	12.65	14.77	16.52	20.94	23.34	23.49	24.05	22.15	18.99	16.30	14.23
Temp. monthly min	1.50	1.15	2.48	3.66	6.73	8.83	11.16	11.45	10.64	8.13	4.71	1.80
(Max	9.30	8.99	10.17	11.61	14.32	16.81	18.48	19.19	17.87	15.19	12.11	9.98
Average daily (Min	7.17	6.61	7.34	8.02	10.50	12.81	14.81	14.59	14.65	12.83	9.88	7.87
(Mean	8.18	7.81	8.80	9.86	12.48	14.87	16.79	16.47	16.29	13.99	10.89	8.94
Rain mm.	77.17	64.13	47.84	51.23	39.98	40.87	41.46	48.89	48.11	82.10	78.48	97.44	717.70
Sun hrs.	61.00	79.11	126.27	188.31	243.04	245.22	251.68	239.40	181.91	113.17	75.05	52.03	1856.19

Alderney Weather

A prediction of a cold winter for 2006/7 was made last year and certainly December 2006 was a lot cooler than usual for much of the month, but January to April 2007 had above average temperatures and April was an unusually dry month, with only a quarter of the 20-year average rainfall and 68 hours more sunshine. Some spring flowers were earlier than usual, others were later by several weeks. Maximum and minimum temperatures were both lower than average from September to December. Sunshine was above average for each month except January and September and the year finished as the 9th sunniest since 1955 with 120 hours more sunshine in total and 58mm more rain than the 20 year averages

Primroses were in flower in November and Common Dog-violets in December, with many other summer flowering plants still flowering in December.

At this point a comparison of the annual summaries of all the available Alderney rainfall figures since 1851, which I have collected over the years, makes an interesting demonstration of the declining rainfall figures across the British Isles generally and no doubt across many other areas. The first figures 1851-60 followed by 1865-71 were recorded at the Breakwater during its construction, the next block 1906-16 were recorded in Le Huret in St. Anne by the island Greffier. The next block from 1955-1980 at the Airport, those from 1982-97 at the Lighthouse and the remainder at my house on Platte Saline.

. a. Note the steady decline of amounts in years of high rainfall, average rainfall and low rainfall since 1960

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. Alderney Botanical Report 2007

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The Alderney Wildlife Trust, of which I was re-elected President in May, continues to flourish and expand its activities and has cleared considerable areas of bracken/gorse/bramble scrub to the benefit of the low growing plants formerly smothered. The trust has also cleared scrub from several footpaths, especially along the coast to give access to naturalists and other walkers. We now have two areas designated by the Alderney States as Nature Reserves to maintain. The much larger reserve consists of the east coast, Longis Common, Corblets Quarry and Mannez Hill, where a second bird hide has been installed, this one at Mannez Pond at the south-eastern end of the island. The steep, watered and wooded, Val du Saue (Willow Valley), half way along the south coast has become the second and scrub cleared and part of the area replanted with native deciduous trees. A third reserve at the Giffoine on the SW tip of the island is under negotiation.

The States Agricultural Team has also revised its mowing and spraying schedules after consultation with myself and the AWT and hopefully some of our frequently mown public open land will bear better crops of our smaller and more special plants as a result, especially the Pyramidal and Autumn Lady's-Tresses orchids. Our single colony of Bee Orchids which had suffered considerably from mowing over recent years has, as a result of these negotiations, been excluded from the spring and summer mowing schedules and 25 plants in flower were counted here on a single day in July.

The Essex Farm house renovation was completed and the derelict outbuildings reroofed and put in good order. The accommodation has been occupied throughout the year by 2 and later 3 postgraduate students who, amongst other things have contributed considerably to the species recording. Several Wildlife Weekends have been well attended by both members and visitors. Daytime Wild flower and evening Bat Walks both proved very popular and several hundred people attended them over the summer.

The Ramsar site has been resurveyed for both plant and animal species and expanded species lists published on the Trust website <www.alderneywildlife.org>. Recording both the Flora and Fauna has been given considerably more attention this year and several new (or only the second record) plant species noted. (See below). Literally hundreds of new moth species and several dragonflies have been added to our earlier lists thanks to the recent move to the island of a skilled entomologist, newly retired.

An Alderney Record centre has been set up on the Internet and in the AWT office with public access to the lists via a touch-screen computer set up in the AWT shop. Starting as an offshoot of the recently formed Guernsey Biological Record Centre managed by Dr. Charles David and Bridget Ozanne (Guernsey BSBI recorder), it was soon combined with the Alderney Society Museum records to form a single Biological, Historical and Archaeological record, accessible from both the AWT and Alderney Society web sites. It is currently being managed by one of our postgraduate students doing a year's "Work Experience".

Bridget had recently updated the Alderney Bryophyte, Lichen and Fungi records and her untimely death in July has lost the Bailiwick one of its best botanists. Jennie Page (JP, now Jennie Grange (JG) after her recent marriage, a former chairman of La Société Guernesiaise's Botanical Section, retired from teaching during 2006 and moved to Alderney. She has been of considerable help in expanding the number of recorded sites of some of our rarer plants and ran two botanical evening classes at the school during the year. Her remarriage towards the end of the year caused her to move back to Guernsey, but, having a daughter and grandchildren here, she is still a frequent visitor. Margaret Long (ML), one of the two Jersey BSBI recorders has continued her many years of regular visits to Alderney and also noted several new sites for established plants.

Most of the area belongs to the Alderney Society, who have owned the derelict Watermill for many years and are now trying to revive it. The rebuilding of the waterwheel itself is well along the road to completion. The dam wall, has been extended and repaired by the States and about 1-metre thickness of silt removed from the area behind it to increase both the catchment area and depth and allow most of the silt to settle before it goes to the filters and pumping station further downstream. AWT are also managing two areas of, mainly States, land as Conservation areas, the larger of which is home to several of our Red Data Book rare or endangered species, and hope to add a third area during the current year...

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.....Carex paniculata stools & Bonne Terre dam.

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During the year Lindsay Pyne, (LP), one of the Trust volunteers, has spent much time in familiarising herself with the island flora and has drawn my attention to two species not previously recorded and one not seen for many years, as well as noting new sites for several other species. Further details of these will be found below.

We had been fortunate to have Jennie Page from Guernsey, move full time to Alderney in 2006, but she returned to Guernsey in late autumn 2007 after her marriage. A friend of almost 25 years, from when I lived in Guernsey, she ran the Botanical Section of La Société Guernesiaise for many years, was closely associated with the late David McClintock and contributed many of the Bailiwick records to his Wild Flowers of Guernsey published in 1975 and to the Annual Transactions. of La Société. She has already contributed some new records to the Alderney list. She also organised and taught a Wild Flower evening class on Fruits and Seeds in the Guernsey Education Department's Adult Education programme at St. Anne's school this autumn, with associated Saturday morning walks, to put what we had learnt into practice in the field. About 10 people attended the first sessions and these will possibly start again in the Spring, almost certainly with a larger class, as a lot of interest has been generated. I look forward to having her expert help in increasing our knowledge and distribution records of the island flora, as she hopes to spend as much time as possible on short visits.

Further work on Alderney's Ramsar site has added to the records of both the terrestrial and maritime flora lists and those of various fauna, noted in the site area.

Several visits from Bridget Ozanne (also the Guernsey BSBI recorder) and Dr. Charles David, who run the recently set up Guernsey Biological Records Centre, have given further impetus to our recording and, thanks to Dr. David, my entire 11,800+ database of Alderney records since 1824, of which he has modified the grid references to account for a long term discrepancy between the grid references obtained from the States of Alderney map and the true satellite co-ordinates, can now be mapped, printed out and manipulated to produce various printed records and species distribution maps on both the GBRC and the Alderney Wildlife Trust Dismap and Digimap programmes. Paul Griffiths at Aditsite, who created my recording programme, has converted my former map references in that programme to fit into the corrected UTM grid positions and I have created a new A4 map, with the corrected grid on it. This can be obtained in printed form from the AWT office or downloaded from my website <flora.org.gg> (File Alderne.gif) and is now included in all new copies of my Alderney Flora lists, books and CDs.

We were all greatly saddened by Bridget's sudden and unexpected death in June and some months later Jennie has now agreed to act as BSBI Recorder for Guernsey.

In the past year I have produced a 256+ page book on CD-Rom A Very Wild Island. An outline of the Ecology of Alderney This is also available to special order as an A4 ring-bound computer print. A much expanded update to my 1988 Flora of Alderney booklet finally made its appearance in September, now entitled The Wild Flowers of Alderney. Also about 258 pages with the several maps including the corrected island map and some colour photographs, this is in A5 size, ring-bound with laminated covers. A more professional "perfect-bound" version with a completely updated plant list and 95 colour photos (see the "Books" page on this site) will be published in March. All are available from the AWT office.

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New plant records 2007

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Awaiting picture .

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Helichrysum angustifolium. Found BB & JG 9.5.07. 2 plants on S. facing bank Bluestone hill, Origin probably garden escape. (I think this is the first C.I. record).

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Conyza bilbaoana. Found BB. 10.8.07 confirmed by ML. Several places around island in waste ground and neglected gardens, mixed with Conyza sumatrensis. Probably not differentiated before. First island record ..

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Digitaria sanguinalis. Found LP 11.9.07 Identified by BB. 8-10 plants along roadside wall bottom, Chemin du Meunier. First island record .

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Lythrum salicaria. Found LP 1.11.07 Identified by BB. About 200 plants in the corner of a damp filed off the Longis Road. This part of the odd-shaped field is surrounded on three sides by a hawthorn/sycamore hedge. The whole field was ploughed and reseeded with a "Wildflower Seed Mix" about 4 years ago and part is now used to grow vegetables. The rest is a virtually untended meadow. The owner has never seen these in flower but it is strange that virtually all the Lythrum plants in the field are in this small area. Perhaps a few plants in the first year have set and spread seeds here, whilst others may have been weeded out or cut or mown down

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New sites

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Helichrysum petiolare. Found BB 6.5.07 Several large plants and many smaller, self seeded from garden escapes noted in 1987. Bluestone Hill. Also now on Platte Saline and in 2 other places some considerable distance away. .

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. Anchusa arvensis. Found BB 8.8.07. 6 plants along side of track to the Frying Pan

Anchusa arvensis. Found BB 9.8.07. 1 large plant in tipped soil by Gravel Works at Platte Saline. .

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Petroselinum crispum. Found BB & JG 9.8.07. 10+ plants amongst rocks in front of German bunker at E. end of Platte Saline beach. .

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Conyza sumatrensis. Found BB. 10.8.07 confirmed by ML. whose first record here was in 2000. At least a dozen sites scattered round the island, often in some quantity

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Atriplex portulacoides. Found LP 7.9.07. 3rd site. Low down on cliffs Hannaine Bay, Several plants

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Erigeron karvinskianus. Found BB 26.9.07. 3rd site. 4 or 5 large plants growing amongst Ivy near the top of the old roadside stone wall round the Island Hall.

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Plants refound, not recorded for many years

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Arabidopsis thaliana. Found BB 7.5.07 near Frying Pan Battery. About a dozen plants along trackside. Previous records 1902, 1954. 1987, 2000. .

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Echium plantagineum. Found BB 20.7.07 3rd island record. Roadside field near Fort Tourgis, 100+ plants, with blue, white pink and mauve flowers, probably from seed impurities in a Borago and Phacelia crop sown by a Bee keeper. Previous 1956 and 1996.

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