A 1 day course covering identification of common riparian and floodplain meadow species

Lowland freshwater habitats such as rivers and streams often support very characteristic communities of plants, many of which can be quite challenging to identify.

This course offers the chance to learn how to identify a wide range of riparian (and some submerged) plants on the River Avon and newly created Salisbury River Park, with a chance to see how this award-winning scheme has combiend flood control with enhanced amenity and biodioversity. In the afternoon we will head up into the Avon Valley and look at the key species of damp meadows, before a chance to recap everything on the way back to the cars.Teaching techniques will focus on reliable and easily-memorable characters that can be used for much of the year.

This workshop will be suitable for beginners and improvers alike.

The tutor

Dominic Price is one of the UK's leading botanical tutors and author of several succesful field guides including A Field Guide to Aquatic Plants. He is the director of the SRT as well as working as a freelance ecologist and nature guide.

What to bring

Lunch, water and snacks (which need to be carried during the day)

Notebook

A hand lens

An ID guide you are happy working with (there is an opportunity to purchase Dominic's newly published Aquatic Plant Guide as an add on at the checkout for tickets)

Schedule

09.45 Arrival and welcome

10.00 Course starts

12.30 Lunch

13.00 Wet meadow assemblages

14.45 Practical exercise

16.00 Departure (at latest)

Directions

Please park at Central Car Park Long Stay, Mill Stream Approach, Salisbury, SP1 3SL (up to date charging information can be found here (https://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/parking-salisbury), at time of writing all day parking costs £11.70, and machines accept card, coin (no change) or can be purchased on MIPermit app).

Nearest postcode: SP1 3SL

Google Maps: click here (https://maps.app.goo.gl/Z3qLmSiiRJc9zgFB9)

This location is within easy walking distance (<0.5 mile) of Salisbury Train Station.

Please inform us of any medical requirements/conditions we should be aware of prior to the course.

Adverse weather

This is an outdoor run course on an exposed site, and as such we request that participants bring suitable clothing including sunhats, sunblock, and full waterproofs & fleeces. As the climate breaks down, we do occasionally have severe weather where either it is very difficult to take notes due to prolonged heavy rain, or temperatures have reached a point where long exposure can be detrimental to health.

In these instances, we will run a condensed version of the course, where we aim to see all the species before lunch but have less time to take notes on them. We will then give attendees free access to the corresponding online course for 24 hours, which means you can take notes and look at the species in more detail in the comfort of your home. We have built a corresponding online catalogue of courses for this purpose, and we therefore feel we can offer the same training experience while looking after attendees' welfare in the field.

Therefore if you look at the forecast before the course and start panicking - don’t worry, we’ve got you!

Facilities

There are loos at the start and end of the course

Course certificate

This course can be used as part of your Continuing Professional Development (CPD). We invite attendees to download their own certificate and complete the numbers of hours spent on the course, as we are aware some attendees spend more time reading up about courses before the day, and writing their notes up and sitting the online course tests afterwards. The hours on your certificate should accurately reflect this time.

Feedback

Whilst this is a new course for 2027, you can read feedback from all our other courses here (https://www.trustpilot.com/review/speciesrecoverytrust.org.uk)

Description supplied by the event organiser.