Building Green’s intrepid survey squad spent last weekend under the terraces at Madeira Drive. Armed with clipboards and Bob the Builder hats, we surveyed the extent and health of the green wall, and updated the list of plants and other wildlife found there.
The results are in. Ton up! We have now broken the 100 species barrier…104 species of plant to be exact…and found a number of other wildlife using the wall that we hadn’t seen before. We counted 117 trunks of 150 year old Japanese Spindle – not including the plants at Duke’s Mound further East, or those in the planters on the terrace itself.
This really strengthens the case to designate this wall a ‘local wildlife site’ in the Council’s forthcoming City Plan. It would be the only green wall site of importance for nature conservation in the UK, and deserves this recognition.
Here is the full list of species. Interesting finds include Japanese Holly Fern, shown below, Hoary Stock, and Holly Blue and Painted Lady butterflies.
Big thanks to our volunteers, and to the Council for the PPE and access.
Download a PDF of the survey: Madeira Drive Green Wall Plant Species List 12.09.2017
Species list from survey 12 September 2017
| Scientific Name | Common Name |
| Faunal Records | |
| Vulpes vulpes | Fox |
| Passer doemesticus | House sparrow |
| Prunella modularis | Dunnock |
| Parus major | Great tit |
| Troglodytes troglodytes | Wren |
| Columba livia | Wood pigeon |
| Turdus merula | Blackbird |
| Celastrina argiolus | Holly blue |
| Vanessa cardui | Painted lady |
| Vanessa atalanta | Red admiral |
| Meles meles | Honey bee |
| Bombus lucorum | White tailed bumblebee |
| Bryophytes | |
| Barbula cylindrical | |
| Barbula sardoa | |
| Barbula unguiculata | |
| Didymodon tophaceus | |
| Didymodon luridus | |
| Didymodon rigidulus | |
| Rhynchostegiella tenella | |
| Tortula muralis | |
| Vascular Plants | |
| Acer pseudoplatanus | Sycamore |
| Achillea millefolium | Yarrow |
| Agrostis stolonifera | Creeping bent |
| Anisantha sterilis | Barren brome |
| Anthriscus caucalis | Bur chervil |
| Anthriscus sylvestris | Cow parsley |
| Arctium minus | Lesser burdock |
| Asplenium adiantum-nigrum | Black spleenwort |
| Avena sativa | Common oat |
| Ballota nigra | Black horehound |
| Bellis perennis | Daisy |
| Berberis darwinii | Darwin’s barberry |
| Brassica rapa | Turnip |
| Buddleja davidii | Butterfly bush |
| Campanula porscharskyana | Trailing bellflower |
| Capsella bursa-pastoris | Shepherd’s purse |
| Carex pendula | Pendulous sedge |
| Catapodium marinum | Sea fern grass |
| Catapodium rigidum | Hard fern grass |
| Centranthus ruber | Red valerian |
| Cerastium fontanum | Common mouse-ear |
| Chenopodium album | Fat-hen |
| Crithmum maritimum | Rock samphire |
| Cirsium arvense | Creeping thistle |
| Cirsium vulgare | Spear thistle |
| Clematis vitalba | Traveller’s joy |
| Convolvulus arvensis | Field bindweed |
| Conyza canadensis | Canadian fleabane |
| Coronopus squamatus | Greater swinecress |
| Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora | Monbretia |
| Cymbalaria muralis | Ivy-leaved toadflax |
| Cyrtomium falcatum | House Holly Fern |
| Dactylis glomerata | Cock’s-foot |
| Digitalis purpurea | Foxglove |
| Diplotaxis muralis | Annual wall rocket |
| Epilobium ciliatum | American willowherb |
| Epilobium hirsutum | Great willowherb |
| Erigeron glaucus | Seaside daisy |
| Erigeron karvinskianus | Mexican fleabane |
| Erysimum cheiri | Wallflower |
| Euonymus japonicus | Japanese spindle |
| Ficus carica | Fig |
| Galium aparine | Cleavers |
| Genista hispanica | Spanish gorse |
| Geranium molle | Dove’s-foot crane’s-bill |
| Geum urbanum | Wood avens |
| Gladiolus communis ssp. byzantinus | Eastern gladiolus |
| Hedera helix | Englsh ivy |
| Hemerocallis fulva | Orange day-lily |
| Hordeum murinum | Wall barley |
| Hyacinthoides hispanica | Spanish bluebell |
| Hypochaeris radicata | Cat’s ear |
| Lactuca serriola | Prickly lettuce |
| Linaria purpurea | Purple toadflax |
| Lolium perenne | Perennial ryegrass |
| Malva sylvestris | Common mallow |
| Malva x clementii | Garden tree mallow |
| Matthiola incana | Hoary stock |
| Melilotus officinalis | Ribbed melilot |
| Narcissus pseudonarcissus cv. | Garden daffodil |
| Onopordum acanthium | Cotton thistle |
| Parietaria judiaca | Pellitory-of-the-wall |
| Pentagottis sempervirens | Blue alkanet |
| Phyllitis scolopendrium | Hart’s-tongue fern |
| Picris echioides | Bristly ox-tongue |
| Picris hieracioides | Hawkweed ox-tongue |
| Plantago coronopus | Stag’s-horn plantain |
| Plantago lanceolata | Ribwort plantain |
| Plantago major | Greater plantain |
| Poa annua | Annual meadow grass |
| Polypodium vulgare | Common polypody |
| Rubus fruticosus | Blackberry |
| Rumex crispus | Curled dock |
| Rumex obtusifolius | Broad-leaved dock |
| Sagina apetela | Annual pearlwort |
| Sagina procumbens | Procumbent pearlwort |
| Sambucus nigra | Elder |
| Sedum acre | Biting stonecrop |
| Sedum album | English stonecrop |
| Senecio cineraria | Silver ragwort |
| Senecio viscosus | Stick ragwort |
| Senecio vulgaris | Groundsel |
| Silene alba | White campion |
| Sisybrium officinale | Hedge mustard |
| Sisybrium orientale | Oriental rocket |
| Smyrmium olusatrum | Alexanders |
| Solanum dulcamara | Bittersweet |
| Sonchus asper | Prickly sow-thistle |
| Sonchus oleraceus | Smooth sow-thistle |
| Sonchus arvensis | Perennial sow-thistle |
| Spergularia marina | Lesser sea spurrey |
| Stellaria media | Common chickweed |
| Taraxacum officinale agg. | Dandelion |
| Triticum aestivum | Bread wheat |
| Urtica dioica | Common nettle |
| Veronica x franciscana | Hedge veronica |
