Ilkley to Addingham Moorside

My trip over to Ilkley (VC64) at the weekend proved more eventful than I could have hoped. First slipping off a boulder and falling backwards into the beck at Heber's Ghyll and then, after salvaging my notebook from the water, regaining my composure and checking for broken bones, finding a particularly nice bramble in the wood.

Following advice from David Earl this seems to be Thornless Blackberry (Rubus canadensis), a native of North America. It has impressively tall, and typically biennial, arching canes with no prickles. In this case the flowers were particularly large and impressive, and from a distance I thought I was approaching a bush of Mock-orange (Philadelphus sp.) as it was so showy. This is the first record for VC64, and also seems to be the first for Yorkshire.

In a wooded ghyll in Ilkley proper there was a small colony of this enormous Lord's and Ladies. A problem for another day but looking too big to be Italian Lord's and Ladies (Arum italicum) proper, despite the veining on the leaves. For scale, the OS map in the photo is approximately 22cm tall.

At the Old Bridge it was nice to finally see the thriving Fairy Foxglove (Erinus alpinus) colony in flower. I had not appreciated that there was a mix of pink and white flowered plants here. Photo of the latter (var. albus) below.

Elsewhere as a street weed was a double-flowered (technically semi-double so fertile) form of Welsh Poppy (Meconopsis cambrica 'Flore Pleno') that I had read about but never seen before, despite the abundance of this species as a naturalised plant in the VC. Terrible photo but you get the idea.

In Panorama Woods there is an abundance of Persian Ivy (Hedera colchica). It is well known here but I don't think anyone before has noted this as being the original introduced form i.e. var. dentata or 'Dentata' (depending on preference). Note the small teeth on the leaf margins.

Over at Addingham Moorside I stumbled over some nice mire and species-rich grassland communities. Some of the highlights included Bulbous Rush (Juncus bulbosus subsp. kochii), Creeping Forget-me-not (Myosotis secunda) and (Pedicularis sylvatica subsp. sylvatica).

To Addingham and Back Again (VC64)

Time for a bit of a catch up on local news. Last week I took a trip over to Ilkley as I had always fancied a walk along the river towards Bolton Abbey, but had never quite made it. Spring was definitely springing in Wharfedale, but not as advanced as on my local patch. So I enjoyed a second final hurrah from the daffodils, while also being able to enjoy some of the species just starting to come into there own.

It was nice to see the thriving colony of Fairy Foxglove (Erinus alpinus) on Old Bridge, Ilkley. Far too early for flowers though.

(photo by Jerzy Opiola, Wikimedia Commons)

Not a rare plant, but I forget how prolific Few-flowered Garlic (Allium paradoxum var. paradoxum) is along the Wharfe. All those bulbs where there should be flowers.

A surprise find on a tree stump well away from gardens was Trailing Bellflower (Campanula poscharskyana), but this is not my first find of this species on an isolated river bank.

On the river bank at Addingham, and likely of planted origin, was Star Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides).

Moving up hill away from the river towards Langbar, I was surprised to find a Chameleon ... i.e. Sweet Spurge (Euphobia dulcis 'Chameleon'). The hedgerow along Langbar Lane also had the hybrid hawthorn Crataegus x subsphaerica (to be seen again later in the hedge bounding Ilkley golf course).

Another nice find on Langbar Lane was a particularly robust lush clump of Alternate-leaved Golden-saxifrage (Chrysosplenium alternifolium).

A rubbish photo but this odd Daffodil (Narcissus 'Pipit') lit up a shady beck bank at Nesfield. I'm not even going to try linking this to a named Daffodil species or hybrid! Google it for a better image.

Back towards Ilkley were Garden Solomon's-seal (Polygonatum x hybridum) and this striking, and very early into bloom this year, Broom (Cytisus scoparius subsp. scoparius f. andreanus).