Contact details
Each year we try to include visits to a good range of habitats and sites across Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset and Hampshire. A key aim of the group is to encourage those who are new to the subject to become more experienced and confident at identifying bryophytes. Beginners are most welcome at all our meetings. There is no formal membership or constitution and each person goes out at his/her own risk.
The only equipment needed is a hand lens (x10 or x20) and some paper packets for collecting specimens. Many of the sites we plan to visit include wet and muddy areas so boots are often advisable. We will usually eat a packed lunch on site. All meetings start at 10.30am and finish between 3pm and 4pm. In the event of poor weather/ treacherous driving conditions, please call or email Andrew or Sharon to check if the meeting is going ahead.
We follow British Bryological Society guidance to safeguard the health and safety of all participants in our field meetings. If you would like to come to one of our field meetings please book a place in advance with the named group leader. Places can only be booked one meeting ahead at a time.
30 March 2025 (10:30 - 16:00)
This upland meeting was originally to be held in November 2024, but was scuppered by Storm Bert.
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19 January 2025 (10:30 - 16:00)
A date for the diary – watch this space for more details.
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15 December 2024
3 November 2024
24 March 2024
An interesting corner of Salisbury Plain military training area with some strong populations of chalk downland bryophytes.
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25 February 2024 (10:30 - 16:00)
Our February meeting is in the lovely and bryologically interesting Quantock Hills, not far from Taunton.
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14 January 2024
Piggledene is one of a cluster of sarsen stone sites near Marlborough and Swindon that are in the careful custodianship of the National Trust. The Wessex group has previously visited the largest of these, Fyfield Down, where we found many interesting bryophytes.
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10 December 2023 (10:30 - 16:00)
If you like Sphagnum, this meeting at Oakers Bog won’t fail to impress. This SSSI is a magnificent and relatively intact L-shaped valley mire on deep wet peat in an extensive complex of heathland, valley mire and woodland in the Poole Basin.
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19 November 2023
Chancellor’s Farm is a Somerset Wildlife Trust reserve held on a lease from the Ministry of Defence. Access is by permit only, but the Trust has kindly allowed us to visit and record the bryophytes of this unspoilt, historic landscape in the Mendip Hills.
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21 October 2023
