A sunny day greeted us when our postponed Craven Conservation Group visit to Swarth Moor was finally held on 6 September.
Swarth Moor - at Helwith Bridge in the Yorkshire Dales - is a Lowland Raised Bog with a good lagg area. (In most bogs in England the agricultural land-crops or pasture - goes right up to the raised bog. The area of natural vegetation which had wildflowers that long ago would lie between the dryland and acid raised bog has been removed (Drained, reseeded etc)
Six members of Craven Conservation Group were guided round by Jessica McMaster and Alex Smith of the Yorkshire Peat Partnership.
Alex has written a good blog post about Swarth Moor here.
https://www.yppartnership.org.uk/blog/alex-smith/restoration-dragons-dales
Here are some pictures
We met in the car park over the road from the Helwith Bridge Hotel, and I will show you a few plants from there at the end.
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| We leave Helwith Bridge hamlet and the road and walk over Black Syke ditch, onto the bog- though the vegetation here here is not bog because this ditch has drained and lowered the water table tremendously here. The ditch is deep, but in spite of the wet weather over spring and summer there is no or little water in it - showing how it has lowered the water table. Hence the land next to us has become grassland with Tufted Hair-grass, False Oat-grass, Cocksfoot etc. |
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| Soon there are signs of wild wetland plants - Here is Sneezewort. |
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| Sneezewort in the foreground |
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| Sneezewort and hoverfly. |
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| Watermint. This species is late in flowering. Last week it was still in bud up at Malham Tarn. |
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| Black Darter |
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| The Black Darter, once released was quite happy to sit on Jack's hat |
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| Walking beyond the Reedmace towards the path round the quarry |
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| Reedmace |
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| Marsh Willowherb |
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We were intrigued by a bush of Bay Leaved Willow (Salix pentandra) I think. All the leaves were big and relatively healthy compared to the "on the way out" other trees of what I loosely think of as a hybrid mix of Salix cinerea, phylicifolia and nigricans though I had not checked them) - It is September. Then I noticed that all the branches were new sprouts from a log lying in the ground. Had the log been put there, and then these side shoots grown?. Or had there been a bigger tree which had been felled? Anyway what really caught our attention was the insect life on them |
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| Lunch. Penyghent in the background |
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| On the path round the edge of the quarry was lots of New Zealand Willowherb |
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| Coir had been places at the edge of the path |
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| Heather in bloom |
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| Cross Leaved Heath |
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| Wild Strawberry |
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| Grass hopper on the viewing platform |
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| This area was sheltered from the strong winds elsewhere. We found several dragonflies on the trees here. |
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| Releasing the dragonfly |
