Drawdown

The silver lining to this year's prolonged dry spell is that it is a great year for looking at the flora of the drawdown zone around Skelton Lake (VC63 and 64). Most years, summer rain raises water levels again before things have had long enough to develop to their full potential.

Of course, my first port of call was to have the annual check on Grass-poly (Lythrum hyssopifolium). I could only find one, perhaps too dry for germination, but it might have a late flush with a bit of rain.

Grass-poly

It seems to be a really good year for Golden Dock (Rumex maritimus), and their are carpets of thousands of Mudwort (Limosella aquatica). Both present in the same corner of the lake as the Grass-poly as well as along the eastern shoreline.

Golden Dock

Carpet of Mudwort

Moving on, there was a cobble bar exposed in the river. In the absence of the usual dog walkers and swans it was worth an explore, and proved very rewarding. There were a surprising number of Tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum), at least until considering the location downstream of the outfall for the Knostrop sewage works. Also, large numbers of Fig-leaved Goosefoot (Chenopodium ficifolium) growing with Red Goosefoot (Oxybasis rubra) and the best find Striped Goosefoot (Chenopodium strictum agg. - this would key to C. striatum using Sell & Murrell and is the prevailing form locally). Like most goosefoots, the development of the stripes and red coloration on the latter species seems a bit hit and miss in Yorkshire, I suspect we just don't get enough heat for long enough.

Tomato

Striped Goosefoot

Another good find in the river was the riparian form of Pale Persicaria (Persicaria lapathifolia subsp. lapathifolia) - easily mistaken for a more exotic species if not aware of how different it looks from the typical arable field form (subsp. pallida). It comes up around Skelton Lake most years and it is always nice to meet this graceful plant again, with its drooping flower heads, spotty stems and 'knobbly knees'. Nearby there was an unusually pale form of Linseed (Linum usitatissimum), also well as a few Marsh Dock (Rumex palustris).

Pale Persicaria

Linseed

Back over to the lake, there were two final treats. Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) and Grey Fat-hen (Chenopodium pseudoborbasii). The latter is a controversial Sell & Murrell segregate, but I've seen this small species a lot this year and it seems to be widespread, distinct/distinctive (more so than the widely accepted Swedish Fat-hen, Chenopodium suecicum) with its grey colouration and leaf shape, and relatively uniform in morphology. Albeit, in the latter case, its worth noting there are two forms - single stem (f. pseudoborbasii) and branching from the base (f. ramosa). The two forms often occur in isolation, but sometimes they can be found together.

Sunflower

Grey Fat-hen

Micklefield Circular (VC64)

This Saturday finally promised a day of reliably dry weather, so I decided to make the most of it by exploring the limestone country to the east of Leeds. It is not a well botanised area as first impressions are of an intensively farmed landscape, which it is, but there are also extensive woodlands, relicts of limestone grassland, pretty villages where cottage gardens overspill their boundaries, and the arable fields themselves are not without surprises. Bravely, I ending up deciding on a 16km route from Micklefield to Sherburn in Elmet, South Milford, Lumby, Ledsham and back to Micklefield. But the walking was easy and relatively flat and, while I did not find any really good arable fields, I found lots of interest.

Things got off to a quick and excellent start in Micklefield when I found Green Nightshade (Solanum nitidibaccatum) next to the path past the new housing development. This species was virtually unknown in the county 5 years ago, but it has been turning up on light soils in the east of the county. I'm not sure if its a new colonist, or if it has just been missed. The plants here probably arrived with the sand used to construct the path. I found this species again later in an arable field in South Milford.

Heading away from Micklefield along the footpath towards Huddleston Hall I was surprised to find the wheat crop (an unusual awned form) over-topped by thousands of Rye (Secale cereale) plants. I assume it came in as a crop contaminant rather having been a crop in a previous year. I've never seen it grown at field scale locally, this being premium wheat and potato country.

Along the boundary of Huddleston Old Wood a bramble caught my eye. On first glance I thought I had found a pink-flowered Soft-haired Bramble (Rubus vestitus) (also, and more usually, available in white), one of the few bramble species that is relatively easy to both recognise and remember. This species has rather distinctive near-circular terminal leaflets with a thick fuzzy texture. However in this case, the leaves turned out to be rather thin and without the expected pubescence. Instead they were bright chalky white underneath. This and the vibrant pink-flowers indicated a hybrid with Elm-leaved Bramble (Rubus ulmifolius), another obligingly straightforward species. Hybrid status was also suggested by the poorly developed fruit, with only a few druplets swelling. A shame, as both parent species produce good fruit.

My journey down Laith Staid Lane towards Sherburn in Elmet rewarded my with one of my favourite plants, Deadly Nightshade (Atropa belladonna), in two discrete locations. Just a shame that it was past flowering (just one tatty flower left). But there is no mistaking that large foliage. 

Heading further down the lane my eye was drawn to some typical limestone grassland species clinging on in rough grassland on a nutrient enriched bank. Looking more closely I was surprised to see several large plants of Cat-mint (Nepeta cataria), a real rarity and last reported for the county no more recently than the 1990's. As all previous locations and associated details are very vague (somewhere in a 2km grid square in a 20 year period is the best we have), it was good to get a detailed grid reference for this location. Its to be hoped that it still persists elsewhere; maybe someone else will get lucky and find it.

The final interesting find along this lane was this enormous hogweed, easily 2m tall and towering over the adjacent hedgerow. An impressive plant, with the leaf in the bottom right of the photo probably as tall as a normal Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) plant. This is the taxon given in Sell & Murrell as Heracleum branca-ursina, but with the comment that it needs further research. It almost certainly does not merit full species status, but for the time being its the only name we have. In reality it is probably just a very distinctive, and likely alien, variety or forma of Hogweed.

On the outskirts of South Milford I came across this unusual form of Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium f. breviradiatum).

And then further into the village in the roadside gutter of Woodside Close was Sea Campion (Silene uniflora). It must have escaped from a garden somewhere nearby.

But the best was yet to come, with an area of block paving on the High Street yielding a colony of American Cudweed (Gamochaeta purpurea). This seems to be the first record for Yorkshire.

Further unexpected aliens turned up at the end of Redhill Lane, Lumby where presumably the landowner dumps their garden waste. A search amongst the ruderals resulted in, in sequence, Thorn-apple (Datura stramonium), unfortunately not yet flowering, Common Millet (Panicum miliaceum), False Virginia-creeper (Parthenocissus inserta), and oddest of all a variegated Hosta (Hosta 'Undulata Albomarginata').

Crossing under the motorway to Selby Fork I was back to interesting native species, with a good stand of Juncus x diffusus, the hybrid between Soft Rush (Juncus effusus) and Hard Rush (Juncus inflexus).

By now I was starting to flag, but with Ledsham the next stop the end was almost in sight. Passing through the village a flash of colour in a ditch proved to be an attractive cultivar of Russian Comfrey (Symphytum x uplandicum 'Variegatum').

And then in Ledston Park, another nice native that is quite rare in the county. I suspect in this instance this Dark Mullein (Verbascum nigrum) may be a garden escape. It was not in typical habitat and was growing near Balm (Melissa officinalis).

All in all not a bad haul for the day. Definitely worth the leg work.

Not Your Average Potato

Today work took me to Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury (VC63) and the last thing I expected to find on the edge of an arable field was Chilean Potato-tree (Solanum crispum). It will have been planted at some point, but given the size of the bush it is clearly well established.