Golden Dock at St Aidan's

With sunshine and blue skies today I thought it worth a late season trip to St Aidan's (VC64) to see if any of the Golden Dock (Rumex maritimus) rosettes seen earlier in the year had made it to flowering. I was rewarded with four plants, one of which was in peak bloom and worth photographing. This species was more abundant a couple of years ago, water levels and goose trampling haven't favoured it recently. I also wonder if the recent rapid spread of New Zealand Pigmyweed (Crassula helmsii) is also impeding germination.

Golden Dock is a rare plant in VC64 and is largely restricted to a few wetlands in the far east of the county. It is a little more frequent in VC31, but it is still a scarce plant of drawdown habitats.

Less attractive, but equally pleasing - at least to me and perhaps because it requires a little more investment in time to go beyond a species-only identification - was the scattering of the wetland specialist subspecies of Greater Plantain (Plantago major ssp. intermedia) along the drawdown zone. While identifications should always be confirmed by counting the number of seeds in a pod (>15 seeds is diagnostic) it is very distinct once known, with its typically diminutive size, pointed leaf tip, toothed and hairy leaves, and usually decumbent inflorescence. It is also much more specialist in niche than its more competitive and weedy sister (ssp. major), normally being associated with disturbed damp ground, and often only germinating and flowering late in the season.

A final lucky find was a second location for Greater Soft-rush (Juncus pallidus), again doing its best to blend in with the Club-rushes (Schoenoplectus spp.). The following photo is pretty ropey (I should have got my camera out rather than using my phone), and it does nothing to show the size of the plant which was easily as tall as me.

Progress in Recording for the New Atlas

As the season winds down I thought it worth a quick review of where VC31 and 64 stand with regard to the objectives of the BSBI Atlas 2020 project. There are only four seasons left to record for the Atlas, so now is a good time to look at successes to date and requirements going forward.

VC31 is in good shape, and essentially work here is done to meet minimum requirements for the New Atlas. This is not to say more records aren't of value - lets try and exceed minimum requirements - but we have the luxury of going where the whim takes us without an emphasis on "square-bashing".

The following map taken from my VC page on the BSBI database website clearly shows the good performance in VC31 since 2000. The map on the right illustrates how thoroughly hectads have been re-surveyed - the paler the squares the more thorough the re-recording. The map on the left shows level of survey effort by tetrad - the darker the colour the more survey effort has been applied. The latter map amply illustrates the effects of bias towards the home patches of active recorders, and the honeypot effects associated with places like Woodwalton Fen and Paxton Pits.

So thinking ahead, while we can be satisfied in a job well done, the maps together suggest that "white" tetrads need a visit as these have not been recorded post-2000, and that there is a need for more recording on the fringes of the VC.

This situation in VC64 is also relatively favourable, but given this is a much larger county there is still a definite need for square-bashing in locations away from the main areas of interest for the most active local recorders and recording societies.

The map on the left again shows which hectads are relatively better recorded, and there is a clear need to target the larger dark red hectads on the fringes of the VC. The map on the right shows clear hotspots of recording activity focussed on my recent areas of interest as well as Wharfedale, the Washburn valley, Bowland and the Leeds/Bradford conurbation. Note the hectads with no or only few recently recorded tetrads.

Armchair Botany

The nights are drawing in and the rain is back, so its time to start doing some of those indoors tasks that I've been putting off for a rainy day. First on my list of priorities is to try and name the bramble (Rubus fruticosus agg.) specimens I collected and carefully pressed back in July before sending them off for expert judgement.

Fortunately, not all of the 350 odd UK brambles are an ID challenge to a novice like me. One of my favourites is Soft-haired Bramble (Rubus vestitus) because it is very common, so you see it often enough to keep reinforcing its characteristics in the memory, and because it is very tactile with its thick but softly pubescent leaves. The terminal leaflet is also distinctive, typically being nearly circular in outline. Soft-haired Bramble is widespread in both VC31 and 64 and indeed nationally.

The Well Worn Path

It's always nice when walking a regular route to spot something that you haven't seen before. That really is the beauty of having a local patch and getting to know it inside out. This time it was on my route over to Temple Newsam (VC64), and it was a tree of all things. I must have walked past this species at least four times a year for the last 3 years without seeing it. To be fair to myself, it was Dwarf Cherry (Prunus cerasus) and it was growing with its larger cousin Wild Cherry (Prunus avium), but even so it was only a metre off the path. Perhaps it was something to do with the low autumn sun shining off the glossy leaves that caught my eye this time.

Dwarf and Wild Cherry are quite distinct once known, as the following scan of the leaves should show. Dwarf Cherry (four leaves on the left) has smaller, darker green, glossy leaves with rounded rather than sharp teeth along the edge.

Other nice finds on the same trip included a planted Pin Oak (Quercus palustris), a tree I have wanted to see for a while to understand how it differs from Red Oak (Quercus rubra) - the answer to which is smaller more refined leaves, and naturalised Late Michaelmas Daisy (Aster x versicolor) with it large flowers providing a nectar feast for late flying bees and butterflies.

Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness

Today's Sunday stroll ended up being fruitful in every sense, with plums and haws a plenty.

First up, I found a stand of Damson (Prunus domestica ssp. institia var. damascena) near Little Preston (VC64). There were few fruit left and those were out of camera reach, so here is a picture from Wikimedia.

© Copyright Jonathan Billinger and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Next up was a dense suckering thicket of a small plum next to the allotments at Great Preston. While this plant keyed out to Black Bullace (Prunus domestica ssp. institia var. nigra) (see also below), I'm not entirely happy with the ID, the fruit were only just in the range for this taxon and the look of the plant was wrong with its densely suckering habitat (Bullace suckers, but not usually to this extent) producing a billowing stand more typical of Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa). I suspect it may be the hybrid between the two (Prunus x fruticans) but need to ponder further and perhaps revisit in the spring when it is in flower. The fruit were astringent but not to the mouth drying and puckering extent of Blackthorn.

Next up was a magnificent Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) on the way to Owl Wood, with exceptionally large haws. This is the perfectly named var. splendens. The following photo shows the size of the haws against three typical sized haws from an adjacent bush.

Brian Davis sent me photos of a couple of other plum varieties he found last year in hedges in VC31. These are included below to allow comparison. The first is Black Bullace, while the second is White Bullace (Prunus domestica ssp. institia var. syriaca).

The Chameleon of Cheesecake Farm

Thought I would have another look back through photos from the spring. This stunning plant popped up in a relict area of acid grassland at the intriguingly named Cheesecake Farm (alas the farm is long gone), Royds Green (VC63). It is Sweet Spurge (Euphorbia dulcis 'Chameleon'), which apparently owes its horticultural origins to a chance find in a French ditch! This grassland also has a good range of natives including betony (Betonica officinalis), Devil's-bit Scabious (Succisa pratensis) and Sneezewort (Achillea ptarmica).

Caucasian Penny-cress found at Harrogate

Kevin Walker has sent news of a huge colony of Caucasian Penny-cress (Pachyphragma macrophyllum) on the Oak Beck, downstream of the RHS Harlow Carr gardens, Harrogate. He managed to track it for approximately 2km of watercourse so it is clearly well established. This is the first VC64 record.

Caucasian Penny-cress is a rare garden escape, spreading by rhizomes. While its flowers are attractive in early spring its pungent smell is much less welcome. Kevin took the following photo back in the spring.

Oak Beck has long been known as a hotspot for garden escapes. Last year Mike Wilcox found both American and Asian Skunk-cabbage (Lysichiton americanus and Lysichiton camtschatcensis respectively), Aconite-leaved Buttercup (Ranunculus aconitifolius) Coral-root (Cardamine bulbifera), Fly Honeysuckle (Lonicera xylosteum) and Madeira Holly (Ilex perado) to name but a few of the more unusual. The escaped Coral-root is particularly prolific having established in the Nidd Gorge also.