Hackfall Wood (VC64)

Just coming out of a week of intense recording, I finally have some time to share some news. Between the trips out, the late evening pressing of dog-rose collections, and the associated data entry, time has been limited

One of my first trips was braving an unpromising rainy day to head up to Hackfall Wood.  What a site, I thought it would fill half a day until the weather cleared but I ended up filling a day pottering around the various paths and I still left feeling there was more to see. The plants were exceptional, helped by proximity to a boulder strewn section of river dripping in vegetation, with each boulder with its own mini hanging garden. However, the experience was added to by the various 18th century gothic follies hidden through the wood.

Giant Bellflower (Campanula latifolia)

Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia subsp. rotundifolia) on riverside boulder

The trip was spur of the moment, so I quite forgot this site is famous for its thriving population of Wood Fescue (Festuca altissima). So when I stumbled over my first patch, there was much head scratching until it clicked into place. A new species for me. Its here in its hundreds dripping from the rock outcrops and slopes below.

Plenty more widespread species added to the interest.

Bifid Hemp-nettle (Galeopsis bifida)

Goldenrod (Solidago virgaurea subsp. virgaurea)

Common Cow-wheat (Melampyrum pratense subsp. pratense var. pratense)

The final highlight of a great day was the biggest stand of Great Horsetail (Equisetum telmateia) I have ever seen, easily 100 x 10m in area. This is an uncommon species in VC64.

Coritanian Elm?

I can't claim to be an expert on elms. I am just old enough (wrong side of 40) to remember my father felling mature trees during the early 1980's as a result of Dutch Elm disease, but have no memory of them as a major tree in the landscape. It wasn't until I moved to Peterborough in the 2000's that I had my first experiences of mature elm trees. Huntingdonshire remains blessed with a fair number of mature elms, most of which are tall stately trees that I have interpreted to date as Small-leaved Elm (Ulmus minor subsp. minor) in the broad sense, as per current British  convention.

However, on last Sunday's trip down to Grafham Water (VC31) I found a notable concentration of a very distinct elm that did not match my understanding of the above species to date. Several mature trees are present at Perry, being notable for their short height (less than 20m), broad spreading and twisting limbs, and most strikingly dense epicormic growth over all major limbs. Of course all leaves suitable for ID were firmly out of reach. After a couple of hours digging around, I have come to the tentative conclusion that these trees seem to be a reasonable match (based on limited descriptions) of trees known previously as Coritanian Elm (Ulmus coritana). If so, it is notable to find mature survivors. Regardless of the ID they are a distinctive part of the surviving variety of mature trees in the county.

Stripey Calystegia

A quick post to start catching up on recent news. A trip to Grafham Water Lagoons (VC31) this Sunday with the HFFS turned up this attractive form of Large Bindweed (Calystegia silvatica subsp. disjuncta) with broad pink stripes on the outside of the corolla (var. zonata). The stripes are arranged outermost when the flowers are in bud, resulting in striking pink buds that contrast with the flowers. This variety only seems to have a few records in the BSBI database. Rare or overlooked?, my observations to date suggest the former.

As a postscript. Going for a walk around Woodlesford (VC63) I saw other examples of the species with very faint barely perceptible pink tinging where the stripes of var. zonata would be. The buds were white or with a patchy hint of pink. So it seems this variety is at the extreme end of a spectrum of variation in the species, and  var. disjuncta is not necessarily pristine white in all cases.

Teeny Tiny Things

Back to Skelton Lake (VC63 and 64) where the drawdown flora is just starting to develop. Much of the strandline has been exposed for a while and is very dry, so we will either need some rain or further drawdown to wet mud if the site is to live up to its potential.

Much of the flora was miniscule. However, it was a great opportunity to test my new toy, a x10 macro lens you can just clip onto a smart phone. Did a good job and a bargain at £10 from Amazon. I will have to see if there is a lower magnification version, as with x10 you are nearly on top of the subject before it comes into focus. Fine for plants, but critters are likely to be less obliging.

Anyway the results below. Best find was Sand Spurrey (Spergularia rubra), hiding amongst the Buttonweed (Cotula coronopifolia) which was also very small but towered over these plants. Also present was Pink Water-speedwell (Veronica catenata) and Swinecress (Lepidium coronopus). In sequence below.

Malva sylvestris var. mauritiana

My latest find on the streets of Holbeck, Leeds (VC63) is this stunning form of Common Mallow. It's amazing what turns up on your local patch if you keep one eye open.

It also gave me another chance to look at the Ladybird Poppy (Papaver commutatum). A little worse the wear for recent weather, but still going strong. Another trait that seems to set this species apart from Common Poppy (Papaver thoeas) is petal retention, the latter seems far more ephemeral while the flowers on this plant have clearly been around for a while to get this weather worn.

Huntingdonshire Update

The last couple of weeks has seen a small flurry of interesting records come in.

Brian Laney has been in Huntingdon leading to a chance encounter with Four-leaved Allseed (Polycarpon tetraphyllum), a first record for the county. This is a summer annual of drought stressed habitats. It is native to the south coast, but has been spreading in recent years. The reasons for this are obscure. In part the horticultural trade may be dispersing it, but it may also have been aided by our changing climate. Various drought tolerant species have been expanding their range in VC31 in recent years, Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera), Pyramidal Orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis) and Knotted Hedge-parsley (Torilis nodosa) being particularly prominent examples.

photo by Forest & Kim Starr (Wikimedia Commons), not ideal as seems to be the two leaved form, but you get the gist

He also found Annual Beard-grass (Polypogon monspeliensis), providing a useful range extension. This species is common at Hampton, Peterborough where I took this photo last year.

Meanwhile Pete Stroh has been to Holme Fen accompanied by Fred Rumsey. Fred pointed out Dryopteris x deweveri, the cross between Broad Buckler-fern (Dryopteris dilatata) and Narrow Buckler-fern (Dryopteris carthusiana), and it is apparently quite common on the fen. This is a new species for the county, and the first record of a hybrid fern.

Fred also pointed out Golden-scaled Male-fern (Dryopteris affinis), providing confirmation of the presence of this species as well as the previously reported Borrer's Male-fern (Dryopteris borreri). The former has been mooted in the past but was not confirmed by an expert or claimed with confidence.

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).