Annual clovers at Ferry Meadows

The sandy lake edges at Ferry Meadows must be one of the best places locally for annual clovers. I've already written about Trifolium micranthum on the west bank of Overton Lake. Today this area also supported sheets of knotted clover Trifolium striatum, as well as one or two white-flowered clovers that appeared similar to rough clover T.scabrum, but that I suspect are actually an albino form of T.striatum.

Trifolium striatum

Albino Trifolium striatum?

Even more exciting is a large population of bird's-foot clover Trifolium ornithopodiodes growing in very short goose-trampled turf on damp sandy soil along the south bank of Lynch Lake. This has been growing in the area for over twenty years, but somehow never seems to have been included in the Huntingdonshire records, despite me informing the previous BSBI recorder. It's very difficult to photograph, as the flowers are quite tiny, and normally occur in 1-4 flowered racemes. This winter annual is most freqiuent round the coast, but may get overlooked as it can be almost impossible to see!

Trifolium ornithopodioides