Viateur Boutot wrote: > Phil Davey of English Nature, who is based at the Lindisfarne National > Nature Reserve, said: "The rabbit population completely collapsed three or > four years ago and as a result the grassland vegetation has grown longer > and longer. > "The flowers, such as the Lindisfarne Helleborine orchid, get swamped and > would eventually disappear if we did not introduce some sort of grazing > system ourselves."
IIRC, rabbits were introduced to the British Isles by the Normans. So, either the Helleborine colonized Lindisfarne sometime after 1066, or it it was able to survive in the absence of rabbits. Nick -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
