Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2015 | Page 89

COUNTRY LIFE

Va mpires galore!

S

T

hey’re everywhere this year and
it’s only a matter of time before
the Mail has headlines of ‘Killer Plants
On The Loose!’ But actually these
are the broomrapes, fascinating and
curious and only a problem if you’re
photosynthesising.
It really has been an exceptionally
good year for them and you’ll have
passed their flower spikes sticking up
from roadside verges without even
noticing.
They are parasites, attaching
themselves to the roots of their hosts
and then stealing the food they need
and as a consequence of this lifestyle
they need no chlorophyll. This means
that they are generally browns, greys
and yellows instead of green, and have
no proper leaves, just small vestigial
scales.
Most broomrapes, for example Ivy
Broomrape, are very fussy about their
host, preferring a small selection, or
perhaps a single species (usually the
one they’re then named after). Others,
such as Common Broomrape, are
much less particular and will happily
feed on all sorts (but this one still
prefers legumes).
Once a broomrape seed knows
(via chemical signals) that it is lying
near the right plant, it will germinate
and produce a sharp rootlet called a

White-Letter
Hairstreak

ome amazing news! Cider Rob of the IW
Butterflies and Moths group has found six
White-Letter Hairstreak butterflies on one of the
disease resistant elms planted at Towngate near
Sainsburys. I’ve heard that some may appear at the
Arreton elms as well! So it looks like the disease
resistant elms, that have been planted by Island
2000, are starting to attract them.

haustorium with which to penetrate
the host’s tissues and suck out
nutrients. The plant may then spend
years underground before it finally
produces a visible flower.
The Island is a fantastic place for
these mysterious flowers with several
national rarities on its list including
the specially protected Oxtongue
Broomrape.
Ian Boyd, Senior Ecologist, Arc
Consulting

Picture by Andy Butler

A cou ntry ma n's dia ry

A

One of our latest ponds ready
for decorating before the new
occupiers move in…

s I have probably mentioned more
than once in the past, not much
of the countryside as we know it
today is natural, it’s all pretty much manmanicured, the good and the bad! As
different land management necessity and
ideas come along, then so the landscape
can change. A relatively new land use on
the island, are solar farms, large areas of
farm land covered with solar panels. No
active farming is really required. Although
the land is lost to common farm practices;
growing food for human or livestock
consumption, wild life has benefitted in
most if not every case. New hedges
and trees have been planted, which will

benefit all manner of birds, mammals and
insects. The areas are securely fenced
giving hares safer areas to roam and
breed. The sites will not be fertilised and
have very little if any chemical sprayed
on them. All this is good for insects
especially our bee population. New
ponds are being created and monitored
that will certainly benefit the amphibians,
invertibrates and pond wildlife that will
inhabit them along with others that may
just need a drink or a wash. Records
show that during the last 100 years the
island has lost over 600 ponds. So it
would appear that solar farms are helping
save more than just