Skipton and Embsay

On Saturday I took a trip on the train out to Skipton (VC64) to start work on a couple of under-recorded hectads. I picked a circular route out to Embsay and the reservoir. It did not turn out to be the most inspiring countryside with intensive farmland in the lowland and a 'sheep-wrecked' upland edge. But needs must with the pressures of Atlas 2020 mounting, and it just means you have to look a little harder.

The first nice find was a good stand of Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) along Springs Canal, later to be seen again at the entrance to Skipton Wood. This attractive plant does not appear to have been recorded from this hectad previously.

Purple Loosestrife - I am cheating with this photo as it was taken at 

Lowther Lake a couple of weeks back

Walking up The Bailey I was able to look up onto the walls of Skipton Castle where there were naturalised colonies of Aubrieta (Aubrieta deltoidea) and Golden Alison (Aurinia saxatilis). The former had not been recorded here previously, and the only other record for the hectad was last century (pre-1999, details very vague as is the case for too many records). Golden Alison was new to the hectad.

Golden Alison (photo by Prazak from Wikimedia Commons)

After a dull walk down into Embsay things picked up again with a number of oddities along Brackenley Lane. First up was a couple of plants of Upright Spurge (Euphorbia stricta). This is a rare British native but it is a casual up here. I see it is listed by some seed suppliers as 'Golden Foam'. A nice plant but I am not sure I need to grow it my garden. Each to their own.

Old walls further along the lane had Caucasian Stonecrop (Sedum spurium) and Snow-in-summer (Cerastium tomentosum), and then this surprise by the steps up to the footpath across the fields. Yellow Oxeye (Telekia speciosa).

Emerging onto Pasture Road I found a nice stand of Dusky Crane's-bill (Geranium phaeum var. phaeum) where Embsay Beck passes under the road. Still a few flowers present despite the season.

Reaching the reservoir I couldn't wait to get down to the shore to look for drawdown flora. Unfortunately this is one of the reservoirs where this is very poorly developed and there were none of the specialities. The highlights being Tufted Forget-me-not (Myosotis laxa) and Marsh Yellow-cress (Rorippa palustris). The latter the first record for the hectad since pre-1969. I was then pleased to find a bush of Glandular Dog-rose (Rosa squarrosa), a hectad first, swiftly followed by yet another in the form of Musk (Mimulus moschatus). A single large clump was growing in the northern inflow.

Musk, photo taken last year at Fewston Reservoir

Heading up onto the Moor, there was only slim pickings but it allowed me to record the usual suspects. The nicest find was Climbing Corydalis (Ceratocapnos claviculata). I then dropped down back towards Embsay. A few useful records were made on route, mainly garden escapes and plantings. The biggest surprise was Algerian Ivy (Hedera algeriensis) established in plantation behind the roadside wall. I suspect this species may be overlooked elsewhere, being passed over for Irish Ivy (Hedera hibernica Hibernica Group). Look out for large leaves, ruby red petioles and young stems, and a pine scent.

An old wall in Embsay had a nice bush of Garden Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) growing out of it, no doubt self-seeded from a nearby garden.

Having a little time to kill before catching my train I wandered up to Skipton Woods. Not the most interesting of woods (especially at this time of year), too many feet and too much bare ground, but adding a few plants that had not been recorded previously. Including such obvious species as Branched Bur-reed (Sparganium erectum). It was also good to find the Herb-Paris (Paris quadrifolia) just about still in leaf, allowing me to collect a detailed grid reference. However justifying this brief diversion was the best find. A large plant of Indian-rhubarb (Darmera peltata) has somehow managed to establish in the bank of Eller Beck by the boardwalk. I'm not sure if this is the same plant last reported in 2004, the location details are too vague, but it seems likely.

Indian-rhubarb

Stainforth

Last weekend, before summer went on strike, I went over to Settle (VC64) again on the train and then headed off into the countryside on foot. As usual the strategy of a planned route quickly gave way to whim with serendipitous results. The original plan was Winskill Stones which is somewhere I have wanted to visit since a teenager when Plantlife ran its campaign to buy the site. A nice site but one that could not match the image I had painted in my head, and still a little too early for the peak of the flowers. So a headed back into the shelter of the valleys below, with my attention drawn to Catrigg Force on the map - not on the planned route but too close to a waterfall to ignore so off I went.

This deep gorge had much of interest with Golden-scaled Male-fern (Dryopteris affinis sens. str.) in the humid woodland, along with Pyrenean Scurvygrass (Cochlearia pyrenaica), Large Bittercress (Cardamine amara) and Goldilocks (Ranunculus auricomus). While the beck above the falls had an abundance of Hybrid Monkeyflower (Mimulus x robertsii) in peak bloom.

Pyrenean Scurvygrass

Hybrid Monkeyflower

I then headed down Goatscar Lane towards the village where the banks were lush with Smooth Lady's-mantle (Alchemilla glabra). That's when the big surprise came. I have been keeping my eye out for the obscure non-native Various-leaved Hawthorn (Crataegus heterophylla) for a number of years and never expected it to pop up in this setting. How it got here is a mystery, an obscure location for a planting or for a bird-sown bush. But then I thought that with Sorbus x liljeforsii a few weeks previous. I had been starting to feel that I had been overlooking this hawthorn, so it was great to not only find it but also to see that it exactly matched the only two images (see here and here) I had managed to track down. This species is only known in cultivation, and its origin has been lost to time. It keys out in Sell and Murrell with patience and not a little trial and error, but you need enough material to understand the "stipules of leaves of flowering shoots more or less irregularly denticulate-serrate or more or less denticulate" character. Most of the stipules had no teeth (so more of the less!), a few had minute teeth (denticulate) and a few had more obvious ones (denticulate-serrate).

Then down into the village with more plants of definite or likely cultivated origin. No apologies for these. The native flora of the Dales are relatively well recorded, but little attention has been paid to the villages. You can't have a full picture of a region's flora without including artificial habitats.

The first thing to catch my eye on the edge of the village was three plants of Wood Crane's-bill (Geranium sylvaticum) under scrub. This is a native plant and indeed it occurs in meadows just up the hill. However, in the case the flower colour looked off for the wild plant and I think this is the cultivar 'Amy Doncaster'. A trail of plants (more typical in flower colour) led back to a garden and may support an origin as a garden escape.

The road edge nearby yielded Spanish Stonecrop (Sedum hispanicum). The common name is a bit literal, and ignorant in the process, given this species is not a native of Spain. Next to it was Malling Toadflax (Chaenorhinum origanifolium).

The villages of Dales are exceptional for the diversity and luxuriance of plants dripping from the limestone walls. Amongst all the usual suspects were the more notable Colarado Stonecrop (Sedum spathulifolium 'Cape Blanco') and Cobweb House-leek (Sempervivum arachnoideum).

The Draw of Draw-down

Draw-down, the seasonal exposure of sediments around the margins of ponds, lakes and reservoirs over the summer, is a habitat I always like to explore whenever I have the opportunity. It is as appealing to me as arable field corners, as you never know what you might find, and there can be much of interest in late summer when other habitats are winding down.

I have been lucky enough to get around a fair few reservoirs in VC63, 64 and 65 in recent weeks and have found plenty of surprises and also, to be honest, a fair amount of not so much. Its the boring sites that make the other sites so much more rewarding. Here are a few of the highlights.

Mudwort (Limosella aquatica) at Scargill Reservoir courtesy of my colleague Hannah Mitchell, also present at Swinsty and Fewston Reservoirs

Musk (Mimulus moschatus) on the mudflats at the northern end of Fewston Reservoir

A rather poor photo that does not do justice to this delicate species - Small Water-pepper (Persicaria minor var. minor). The whole population at Swinsty and Fewston is the unusual white-flowered form. The more typical pink-flowered form was encountered later at Leighton Reservoir

Not as rare as the preceding species, but it is always nice to see Water-purslane (Lythrum portula subsp. portula). 

Intermediate Plantain (Plantago major subsp. intermedia), a drawdown specialist unlike its weedy cousin Greater Plantain (Plantago major subsp. major)

And that's just a taster without mentioning Shoreweed (Littorella uniflora), Sand Spurrey (Spergularia rubra), Marsh Speedwell (Veronica scutellata), Red Goosefoot (Chenopodium rubrum), Monkey-flower (Mimulus guttatus) ...

You've probably noticed the recurring theme in most photos by now - the menace that is New Zealand Pigmyweed (Crassula helmsii). Please take care to clean your boots so as not to help it spread any faster than it is already managing, otherwise you get this ....

Fewston Reservoir, that really is all New Zealand Pigmyweed and this is but one small part of the infested shoreline of this large reservoir