Badby Woods and the natural history of the Badby area: Badby Woods | Bluebell Teas | Birds: successes over 200 years | Birds: more recent changes | Bird survey 1946-50 | Flowers | Trees | Plant catalogue 1840 | References (Plants) | Back to Badby Woods & natural history overview | Back to History Section overview
Flowers
John Morton’s “The Natural History of Northamptonshire” 1712 describes notable plants found in Northamptonshire. Only two references specifically to Badby Woods are made, to golden rod and harebell.
In 1822 in “The History of the County of Northamptonshire” George Baker also mentions golden rod and harebell as being rare plants found in Badby Woods.
As well as those two, Baker lists over a dozen other rare plants that are found in Badby Woods including lesser butterfly orchid, woodruff and devil’s bit scabious.
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| Golden rod – recorded in Badby woods in the 18th and 19th centuries but not today (photo: pixabay.com Public Domain Creative Commons CC0) | Harebell – also recorded in the early 19th century but not in more recent times (photo: pixabay.com Public Domain Creative Commons CC0) | Lesser Butterfly orchid – recorded in Badby in 19th century volumes but has not been recorded recently (photo: Richard Piner) |
W L Notcutt made a “Catalogue of Plants observed in the neighbourhood of Daventry” during a residence of three to four years there, completed in 1842. This appeared in the volume “The Phytologist: A Popular Botanical Miscellany, Volume 1” published in 1844. His list refers to golden rod and harebell as occurring only on Borough Hill, Daventry. However he provides a comprehensive list of plants that he found specifically in Badby Woods and Badby including familiar ones such as bluebell, wood anemone, wood sorrel and dog’s mercury.
Interestingly most of the rare plants mentioned in the George Baker book of twenty years earlier do not appear in the 1842 catalogue for the Badby area. Perhaps some of these are in fact there but under a different name although one, yellow archangel, is quoted by Baker as occurring and still grows in Badby woods today. Did Notcutt just not visit the woods at the right time?
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| Wood anemone – a typical spring flower of ancient woodland. Probably has been growing in Badby woods for hundreds of years (photo: Richard Piner) | Yellow archangel – mentioned in the 1822 history, not in the 1842 catalogue but occurs in Badby Woods today (Seen here alongside the ubiquitous bluebell) (photo: Richard Piner) | Wood sorrel – like wood anemone, a spring flower of ancient woodland – common in Badby woods now and in the past (photo: Richard Piner) | Lesser celandine – grows commonly all around Badby and the woods today but not mentioned in the 1842 catalogue (photo: Richard Piner) |
Moving a long way forward to 1985, the SSSI citation for Badby woods mentioned earlier in the birds section has more information about flowers found there at the time. There was a survey of the flora of Badby Woods done as part of the decision-making process before they were designated an SSSI but this seems to be no longer available. It would be very interesting to compare that with the 1842 catalogue. However several locally rare plants are specifically mentioned in the citation such as, wood horsetail, blinks, hairy woodrush and wood melick. All of these feature in either or both of the 19th century publications suggesting that Badby Woods’ plant population has been maintained fairly well over the last two hundred years.
The SSSI document also mentions some other plants that grow in the woods particularly in a marshy area on the edge of the woods – greater tussock sedge and marsh valerian, which don’t feature in the 19th century documents. There is also reference to woodland edge plants including blackcurrant and wood vetch (also recorded in 1842).
Finally, comparison with recorded instances of plants logged by the county flora recorder over recent years and up to date, shows that just about every plant quoted in the SSSI document from forty years ago has been subsequently recorded in Badby and the woods.
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| Blinks and Wood horsetail – both mentioned as growing in Badby Woods 200 years ago and also in the Badby Woods SSSI citation as being found there (photos: Saxifraga.nl Rutger Barendse; publicdomainpictures.net Public Domain Creative Commons CC0) | Coltsfoot – found today in early spring but not mentioned in the 19th century (photo: Richard Piner) | Yellow rattle – common today in fields around Badby but not recorded in the 19th century (photo: Richard Piner) | |
Of the hundred and forty plus specimens recorded by W L Notcutt in 1842 at least a hundred have been recorded recently (see the table below) – along with about 200 others not reported in 1842! Of the rare plants recorded in the Baker volume, only one or two have been recorded in recent years. Maybe names have changed over time to disguise some of these. More investigation is needed!
Trees
The Notcutt catalogue does mention trees including oak, elm, beech, hazel and various willows. Until the spread of Dutch elm disease in the 1960s elms were a major feature of the roadside between Badby and Daventry.
Interestingly, the catalogue mentions sweet chestnut, which is currently widespread in Badby woods, but only as occurring somewhere in Daventry. The horse chestnut, such a recognisable emblem for Badby today is not mentioned at all.
So were there already horse chestnuts growing on and around the greens in Badby in 1842 when that catalogue was produced? Local opinion suggests that the oldest chestnuts such as the one recently felled on the corner of Chapel lane were about 200 years old. Horse chestnuts were not introduced into Britain until the early 17th century and although now there are estimated to be some two million in the country they are under serious threat from a moth that has recently spread into the UK.
Recent records and memories refer to four red blossomed horse chestnuts planted on the greens in 1911 to commemorate the coronation of George the fifth. In 1975 more horse chestnuts were planted at the instigation of the parish council. In 2005 to compensate for some of the 1970s trees that had not thrived another set of trees were planted on the greens. In this case not horse chestnuts but two oak, two walnut, one larch and one Japanese cherry.
A ring of horse chestnut trees were present at the start of the path up to the arch gate entrance to Badby woods. These gradually disappeared over the years the last one being felled in 2008. One of the last of the old horse chestnuts, on the corner of Chapel Lane was felled in 2016 due to the trunk being rotten.
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| Church Green – treeless before horse chestnut and other plantings during the 20th century (photo: HPoB&F, Badby PCC 2012) | The trunk of the horse chestnut on the corner of Chapel Lane just about to fall – 2016 (photo: Richard Piner) |
Catalogue of plants found in the Badby area around 1840 (W L Notcutt)
| 1842 Latin name | 2017 Latin name (if different) English name | 1842 location | Recent record? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aegopodium podagraria | Ground Elder | Badby | y |
| Ajuga reptans | Bugle | Badby Woods | y |
| Allium ursinium | Ramsons | Badby | y |
| Alopecurus pratensis | Meadow Foxtail | Meadows | y |
| Anemone nemorosa | Wood Anemone | Badby Woods | y |
| Angelica sylvestris | Wild Angelica | Badby Woods | y |
| Anthoxantum odoratum | Sweet Vernal Grass | Common | y |
| Apargia hispida | Leontodon hispidus Rough Hawkbit | Badby Road | (y) |
| Arctium lappa | Burdock | Common | y |
| Asperula odorata | Galium odoratum Woodruff | Badby Woods | y |
| Bellis perennis | Daisy | Common | y |
| Betonica officinalis | Stachys officinalis Betony | Badby Woods | y |
| Bromus mollis | Bromus hordeaceus Soft Brome | Common | y |
| Calluna vulgaris | Heather | Badby Woods | |
| Carex sylvatica | Wood Sedge | Badby Woods | y |
| Cerastium viscosum | Mouse-ear | Common | y |
| Circaea lutetiana | Enchanter’s Nightshade | Badby Woods | y |
| Convulvulus arvensis | Field Bindweed | Common | y |
| Corylus avellana | Hazel | Badby Woods | y |
| Crataegus oxyacantha | Hawthorn | Common | y |
| Cynosurus constatus | Crested Dogstail | Common | y |
| Dactylis glomerata | Cocksfoot | Common | y |
| Dipsacus sylvestris | Dipsacus fullonum Wild teasel | Badby | (y) |
| Draba verna | Eropila verna Common Whitlowgrass | Common | y |
| Epilobium hirsutum | Great Willowherb | Badby Woods | y |
| Epilobium montanum | Broad-leaved Willowherb | Badby | y |
| Epilobium tetragonum | Square-stemmed Willowherb | Badby | (y) |
| Equisetum fluviatile | Water Horsetail | Badby Woods | y |
| Equisetum sylvaticum | Wood Horsetail | Badby Woods | y |
| Erythraea centaurium | Common Centaury | Badby Woods | |
| Euphorbia peplus | Petty Spurge | Cultivated fields | y |
| Euphrasia officinalis | Eyebright | Badby Woods | |
| Fagus sylvatica | Beech | Badby Road | y |
| Fragaria vesca | Wild Strawberry | Badby Woods | y |
| Fumaria officinalis | Fumitory | Common | |
| Galeopsis tetrahit | Common Hemp-nettle | Badby Road | y |
| Galium aparine | Cleavers | Common | y |
| Galium cruciatum | Cruciat laevipes Crosswort | Badby Roads | y |
| Galium mollugo | Hedge Bedstraw | Badby Woods | (y) |
| Galium saxatile | Heath Bedstraw | Badby Woods | |
| Galium verum | Lady’s Bedstraw | Badby Roads | y |
| Geranium robertianum | Herb Robert | Badby roads | y |
| Geum urbanum | Herb Bennet | Common/Roadsides | y |
| Glechoma hederacea | Ground Ivy | Common | y |
| Gymnadenia bifolia | Platanathera bifolia Lesser butterfly orchid | Badby Woods | |
| Hedera helix | Ivy | Badby Road | y |
| Hypericum hirsutum | Hairy St. John’s Wort | Badby road | |
| Juncus acutiflorus | Sharp-flowered Rush | Badby Woods | |
| Juncus conglomeratus | Compact Rush | Badby Woods | |
| Lapsana communis | Nipplewort | Badby Roads | y |
| Larnium album | White dead-nettle | Common/Roadsides | y |
| Lastraea dilatata | Dryoperis dilatata Broad Buckler fern | Badby Woods | (y) |
| Lastraea filix-mas | Dryoperis filix-mas Male fern | Badby Woods | (y) |
| Lathyris pratensis | Meadow Vetchling | Badby Woods | y |
| Lathyris sylvestris | Narrow-leaved Everlasting Pea | Badby Woods | |
| Leontodon taraxacum | Dandelion | Common | y |
| Linum catharticum | Fairy Flax | Badby | |
| Listera ovata | Common twayblade | Badby Woods | (y) |
| Lolium perenne | Perennial Ryegrass | Common | y |
| Lonicera peryclinenum | Honeysuckle | Badby Woods | y |
| Lotus major | Lotus corniculatus Bird’s foot trefoil | Badby road | y |
| Luzula campestris | Field Woodrush | Meadows | y |
| Luzula congesta | Heath Woodrush | Badby Woods | |
| Luzula pilosa | Hairy Woodrush | Badby Woods | y |
| Lychnis diurna | Silene dioica Red campion | Badby Woods | y |
| Lysimachia nemorum | Yellow pimpernel | Badby Woods | y |
| Malva rotundifola | Malva pusilla Small-flowered Mallow | Badby | y |
| Melampyrum pratense | Common Cow-wheat | Badby Woods | y |
| Melica uniforma | Wood Melick | Badby | y |
| Mercurialis perennis | Dog’s Mercury | Badby Woods | y |
| Myosotis arvensis | Field Forget-me-not | Common | y |
| Ononis arvensis | Field restharrow | Badby road | |
| Orchis mascula | Early Purple Orchid | Badby Woods | |
| Orchis maculata | Lactylorhiza maculata Heath spotted orchid | Badby Woods | |
| Orobus tuberosus | Lathyrus linifoliusBitter vetchling | Badby Woods | |
| Oxalis acetocella | Wood Sorrel | Badby Woods | y |
| Papaver rhoas | Common Poppy | Common | y |
| Pedicularis sylvatica | Lousewort | Badby Woods | |
| Plantago lanceolata | Ribwort Plantain | Common | y |
| Plantago major | Greater Plantain | Badby Road | y |
| Plantago media | Hoary Plantain | Common | y |
| Poa annua | Annual Meadowgrass | Common | y |
| Poa pratensis | Meadow Fescue | Badby Woods | y |
| Poa trivialis | Rough Meadowgrass | Common | y |
| Polygala vulgaris | Common Milkwort | Badby Woods | |
| Polygonium aviculare | Knotgrass | Common | y |
| Polygonum bistorta | Persicaria bistorta Bistort | Badby | |
| Polygonum hydropiper | Persicaria hydropiper Water-pepper | Badby Woods | |
| Populus alba | White Poplar | Roadsides | (y) |
| Potentilla anserina | Silverweed | Common | y |
| Potentilla fragiastrum | Potentilla sterilis Barren Strawberry | Common | |
| Potentilla reptans | Creeping Cinquefoil | Common | y |
| Primula vulgaris | Primrose | Badby | y |
| Prunella vulgaris | Self-heal | Badby | y |
| Prunus spinosa | Blackthorn | Common | y |
| Pteris aquilina | Eagle Fern | Badby Woods | y |
| Quercus alba | Oak | etc. | y |
| Ranunculus acris | Meadow Buttercup | Common | y |
| Ranunculus arvensis | Corn Buttercup | Common | |
| Ranunculus bulbosus | Bulbous Buttercup | Cornfields/Common | y |
| Ranunculus flamula | Lesser Spearwort | Badby Woods | y |
| Rosa canina | Dog Rose | Common | y |
| Rubus fructiosus | Bramble | Common | y |
| Salix accuminata | Salix gmelinii probably incorrect ID | Badby Woods | |
| Salix caprea | Goat Willow | Badby Woods | y |
| Salix cinerea | Grey Willow | Badby Woods | y |
| Sanicula europaea | Sanicle | Badby | y |
| Saxifraga tridactylites | Rue-Leaved Saxifrage | Common | |
| Scabiosa succisa | Succisa pratensis Devil’s Bit Scabious | Badby Woods | |
| Scilla nutans | English Bluebell | Badby Woods | y |
| Scrophularia nodosa | Common Figwort | Badby Woods | y |
| Sedum acre | Biting Stonecrop | Common | y |
| Sedum reflexum | Sedum rupestre Large rock stonecrop | Badby | |
| Senecio vulgaris | Groundsel | Common | y |
| Sinapsis arvensis | Charlock | Cornfields | |
| Sisymbrium officinale | Hedge Mustard | Roadsides | y |
| Sonchus asper | Rough Sow-thistle | Badby Road | |
| Sonchus oleraceus | Smooth Sow-thistle | Badby Roads | y |
| Stellaria media | Common Chickweed | Common | y |
| Symphytum officinale | Common Comphrey | Badby | (y) |
| Tamus communis | Black Bryony | Badby Woods | y |
| Thlaspi bursa-pastoris | Shepherd’s Purse | Common | |
| Tormentilla officinalis | Potentilla erecta Tormentil | Badby Woods | (y) |
| Trifolium pratense | Red clover | Common | y |
| Trifolium repens | White clover | Common | y |
| Triticum repens | Couch Grass | Common | (y) |
| Ulex nanus | Ulex minor – Dwarf Gorse or europaeus Gorse | Badby Woods | y |
| Ulmus campestris | Ulmus minor Field Elm | Common | y |
| Urtica dioica | Stinging Nettle | Common | y |
| Valeriana officionalis | Common Valerian | Badby Woods | y |
| Veronica beccabunga | Brooklime | Badby Road | y |
| Veronica hederifolia | Ivy-leaved Speedwell | Common | y |
| Veronica officinalis | Heath Speedwell | Badby Woods | y |
| Vibernum opulus | Guelder Rose | Badby Woods | y |
| Vicia sepium | Bush Vetch | Badby Woods and road | y |
| Vicia sylvatica | Wood Vetch | Badby Woods | y |
| Viola canina | Heath Dog Violet | Common | (y) |
(y) – no recent record submitted but very probably still found around Badby.
References (flowers)
1. The Natural History of Northamptonshire, John Morton 1712
2. The History of the County of Northamptonshire, George Baker 1822
3. The Phytologist: A Popular Botanical Miscellany, Volume 1, 1844. Article CXXIII – Catalogue of Plants observed in the neighbourhood of Daventry, Northamptonshire. By Mr W L Notcutt
4. Badby Woods SSSI citation – Natural England 1985
5. Recent records of plant sightings around Badby and Badby Woods submitted to the Northamptonshire Flora county recorder
6. Most pictures taken locally around Badby (some from internet)
Last updated 8 February 2018