Grasses of Le Grand Depart (2) - Yorkshire - Threshfield to Cray

 The Grasses Tour de Yorkshire continues.

with another seven different grasses

(See part 1 - Skipton-Threshfield) 

As I drive northwards, (on 2nd July) throughout the day I am passed in both directions by cyclists or many shapes and sizes..

Three km north of Threshfield Grassington lies Long Ashes. Next to the road is woodland on limestone pavement. 

Hairy Brome

Hairy Brome sheath/stem with hairs 1.5mm to 2mm long

The field beyond Long Ashes overlooks the river Wharfe and on the right, the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Reserve - Grass Wood.

In the foreground is Sweet Vernal-grass

Here in the same field is Wood False-brome

More Wood False-brome

There is still some Rockrose left - a little dry now.  It is growing with Blue Moor-grass

The ground seems to be made of rounded limestone cobbles. Fluvio-glacial deposits..

A little further on and we are approaching Kilnsey Crag. - Can you see it behind the telegraph pole?

Kilnsey Crag:
a) A bike left by the road as some cyclists have a picnic.
b) Climbers at the foot of the crag survey the overhang above.

at this stage I am going to use (with permission) the view from the top of the crag -
 taken a few days ago by Andy Holden - 

Looking down to Kilnsey Show field from the top of the crag

Back at the foot of the crag I note more mundane things- like the importance of stopping people climbing on walls -

And on the gate nearby some Klebsormidium crenulatum -
a filamentous alga that is spreading throughout Britain
because the air has increasing amounts of active nitrogen compounds.

Here by the roadside is Timothy grass. This is only just coming out into flower.

In the stream below the Crag is  Floating Sweet-grass

Floating Sweet-grass Inflorescence

I carry on past the Arncliffe/Littondale turnoff.

A mile or two before Kettlewell I stop in a passing place. Early flowers have finished but each week still gains a new flower in season. This is one of the few places you can see Bloody Cranesbill on the roadside.

Bloody Cranesbill

On the opposite side of the road is a clump of Meadow Oat-grass
The leaves are stiff and the upper surface whitish.

and the flower head is stiff and almost a spike.

Then there is Yorkshire Fog. - The pinkish grass in the right in the foreground

Hmm, quite a backlog of traffic.

Over the wall, and with the camera on telephoto you can see Scargill House chapel

A little further on we approach Kettlewell.

Almost at Kettlewell. the 3 approaching cyclists (and one behind down the hill)
seem to be carrying at least the kitchen sink in their luggage.

In Kettlewel I find Mr Grassman

I carry on past Buckden

Looking back to Buckden - they are cutting the silage here.

Ah, I see they have filled the holes in in the road.

This Reed Canary-grass is quite photogenic - both uphill and downhill.

 I carry on above Cray. Some of my friends I have been told, will be cycling up here early on Saturday to watch.

They are expecting people to park and camp here.
Still - people will have a good view of the cyclists coming up the hill.
Those two meadows on the left are quite high up.

This cyclist is working hard.

 I drive up past Cray to the summit - well to the flat area between Great Whernside and Buckden Pike.' a flat peaty area of Hare's-tail Cotton-grass.  The sun has gone in and it is quite windy and cold.

As i look towards the Wensleydale Catchment I see:-

Three silage bags looking like cheese. --
Well the grass goes to cows, which go to milk, to cheese.

At this point I carry on a little way then turn round and return home .. Quite a long way. It is (was) 2nd July

I'll put the Buttertubs Grasses up another day

(See part 1 - Skipton-Threshfield) 

Grasses of Le Grand Depart (1) - Yorkshire Section of the Tour de France - Skipton - Threshfield

Yorkshire is a green county - even after our dry June. Much of this is due to the beautiful grasses.

Over 80 species of grass can be found in North and West Yorkshire. At least 40 of these can be found on our road verges and fields close to the road. Britain has about 150 native species of grass  (plus up to 70 more introduced and casuals).
This post shows 7.

As the cyclists whiz round our country roads they will see  many of these grasses.  If you are watching the race, why not look out for some of the grasses whilst you are waiting?



These photos were collected on two visits: 1) the Hawes- Buttertubs Section on 18 June
2) The Skipton - Buckden section on 2 July.



So: we set off at Skipton -




People at Skipton parish church - Holy Trinity - will have a good view of the race.

 Look they have been cutting their grass. I expect a lot of it is ryegrass

Just north of Skipton is a turning to the right to the natural burial ground. Here on the roadside is Ryegrass. The flowerhead is a spike, with spikelets arranged on either side. See how just one floret in each spikelet is open.

False Oat-grass - an indicator of lack of grazing or mowing

False Oat-grass seen closer. there is one long awn (bristle) per spikelet

Meadow Fescue  (And there was some Yellow Oat-grass nearby)

At the Rylstone turnoff, we are reminded that this main road will be closed.

Not many grasses here - but some good ferns on a wall. This is Common Polypody - and below that some Maidenhair Spleenwort.

A mile before Threshfield there is a bridleway signed to Linton. And there is a great selection of plants on the verge

Tall Fescue

Tall Fescue leaves - with hairs on the auricles - need a closer up picture.

Quaking Grass

Soft Brome

Reflexed Saltmarsh-grass

There are rushes in the field opposite

 See the next seven grasses in the   Threshfield - Buckden (-Cray) Section

Visit to Eco-House, Burton-in-Lonsdale 2 June

Churches Together in Settle and District

with welcome to others in Bradford Earth Care and WYAD Diocese

Visit to

Fairfield, Burton in Lonsdale

Eco-house

Monday 2^nd June: 6.30pm

Over the years Ruth and Andy Ive have made many improvements to their home “Fairfield”,  Burton in Lonsdale, LA6 3NA   involving energy saving and eco- features.  Andy has kindly agreed to show us round.  If the weather is fine we will have a shared (Jacob’s join) picnic tea in their garden (or indoors if wet).  Features include recycled wood in the floors, heat exchange as fresh air comes into the house, a straw bale extension and a Sedum roof

Provisional programme:

1.    6pm Meet at Settle Swimming Pool at 6pm share transport to Burton in Lonsdale. Take Jacobs join.

2.    6.30pm Have shared picnic tea. (Andy will supply cups of tea)

3.    If there is a lot of us Andy can take people round in two separate groups while one group eat:  one tour at 6.30,

4.    7pm Second tour. (If there is a large group it can be split, half doing the “workshops” below)

5.    7.30pm half hour for chat/workshops in small groups on one the following topics:
1) Learn about wild flowers in flower around us.
2) Eco discussion - what should the church be doing about green issues locally? (or nationally)
3) Look at photos of Fairfield house.

6.    8. pm short eco-service (i.e. 2 green songs, reading, prayer and benediction)
8.30pm ... 9pm -  depart.

Booking would be helpful, even if only on the afternoon of the day, and especially if you need a lift:  contact Judith Allinson on: 01729  822138 / 07902753243.   ja@bdec.org.uk

www.ctisad.org.uk

The Speakers Club (ASC) national Conference Glasgow 2014

Delegates arrive - View of floor 0 from floor 1 Radisson blu hotel

On the bus on the first evening on the way
to the Glasgow City  Chambers

This weekend I attended the Association of Speakers' Clubs' national conference in Glasgow (you may remember my post about the national conference at York in 2010 )


(Here is a link to the ASC website that has lots of resources and info, and here to Craven Speakers Club)


At the conference I was surprised  to find how many people have belonged to the ASC for many, many years -- until I realised I was no longer a newbie myself... Indeed, the date at the bottom of the Craven Speakers Club website reveals I have been a member for nine years now.

I looked at my own copy of the ASC manual -- and discovered the evaluation of my first speech was January 2005 - thank you Mavis for doing this - and thank you other people for writing up later evaluations. It does show I have improved. I don't look down at my feet any more (I hope)

In the Glasgow Civic Chambers watching
the Topics Competition

And ("phew") - I finally attempted my "masterpiece" (the level 10 speech) last month and passed.. So I just got it in before the end of my tenth year. (It was entitled "Falling in love with lichens", and I was evaluated and assessed for it at Bradford Speakers Club, having used the same speech in our speech competition the previous week at Skipton)


-----
Well, back to the conference:

We were based at the Radisson Blu hotel.  But on the first evening we went to a reception at Glasgow City Chambers and watched the topics competition.

 The Topic given for the Impromptu speech was "Spring is in the air"

 The Runner up was Clive Dawson from our Eastern Region (of which Craven Speakers  Club is part). He led the topic round to leaving wild parts in your garden for nature - which was a good call to action.

Clive and his trophy and certificate

The reception

A selfie at the Galsgow City Chambers Ladies' rest room

Saturday morning was the AGM.

The 2014 ASC AGM

The 2014 ASC AGM

A group of us went to lunch at the travel agent next door - who were busy promoting a cruise

In the afternoon we had a seminar on development and publicity about the ASC.

Sue who organised it had expected 30 and was very pleased with the large number that turned up.

I brought some photocopies of my article Twenty Top Tips for Successful Publicity Posters and some posters for our club and the Table top sale on 10 May in Skipton.

Seminar

In the evening there was a Meal

Demonstration of Scottish Highland Dancing before the ASE Meal on 26 April at Radisson Blu hotel

The highlight for me was the Evaluations Competition.

 A gentleman gave an 8 minute speech "25 years of the internet" _ A really good summary I thought to getting up to date and to looking back back on the 25th Anniversary of the start of the World Wide Web.

Then eight people, the winners from each of the 8 Regions in Britain each had to evaluate the speech. (Without seeing what the other people did)
The speech was a level 6 speech - being assessed for "Vocabulary and word pictures"
But I thought it was not a suitable speech for doing a word pictures talk  There are so many long words involved in describing the computing - html  (hypertext markup language) http, etc, that to add other descriptive  and emotional phrases would have made it too complicated.


The evaluations varied - The first two people passed the speech and praised  the extremely few (well I though one actually) word picture /simile that he gave -(that  Tim Berners-Lee  finding and sorting files was a bit like playing the game Happy Families.)


The following speakers were more critical and several suggested that he repeat the exercise using a different topic. They also tried to give illustrations of how he could use more vivid language.


I enjoyed watching how the different evaluators approached the topic. I was glad to see also that experienced evaluators could come up with different ideas about whether a speaker should move on to the next speech or not.

A quick reminder of the grand City Chambers

Sycamore buds will not open till 16th April - I say on 14th - and other notes

I have this theory that the main tree leaves start to come out - the buds start to burst on 16th April - well around Settle anyway, and where the majority of the trees are sycamore - then one month later by 17th of May the sycamore trees are fully out, and are giving lots of shade. (Ash takes quite a bit longer)

Well we have had a mild winter and a mild March .. so I wondered of the tree leaves would come out earlier.

The sloe is just starting to come out on the 1st April -
View from Castleberg Crag/Gardens in Settle

View of St John's Church Hall from Castleberg on 1 April

Sycamore tree by Ribble on 1 April - no leaves

But look what is growing at the base of the tree - Syntrichia latifolia!!!

These buds are breaking on 11th April - but that's down at Settle so maybe that does not count.

The sycamore trees outside my house
on 12th April have leaves swollen waiting to break

However at Ripon on 14th April there are sycamores with unbroken buds.
The tree on the right is horse-chestnut but the tree on the left is sycamore,

And on our walk to the river Skell at Ripon on 14th
all the other shrubs may have been starting to
come out but the sycamore was not coming out.

It's great to get out and see the flowers.

Wildflowers of Ingleton Churchyard Walk - 24 May 2014

(Note there will be a similar walk on 20 June 2015)

Ingleton Overground Underground Festival 2014: 24-26 May www.ogug.co.uk

Wild Flowers Of Ingleton Churchyard 

Sat 24 May 6pm

Short walk round Ingleton churchyard led by - Doris Cairns Doris will display her book of watercolour paintings of the wild flowers of the Ingleton Churchyards followed by Light refreshments. Free/donations

Venue: 

St Mary’s Church, Ingleton

Left: Maidenhair Spleenwort, Ivy-leaved Toadflax 

and Wall Rue. Below: Early Dog-violet

Flowers of the Settle Carlisle Line: Illustrated Talk - Ingleton -24 May

Ingleton Overground Underground Festival 2014: 24-26 May www.ogug.co.uk

Illustrated Presentation

Flowers of the Settle Carlisle Line 

Venue: St Mary’s Church, Ingleton

Sat 24 May - 7.30pm- 8.30pm: Doors open and refreshments from 7pm

by local botanist - Dr Judith Allinson

£5.00 / Donations to St Mary’s Church and the Rainforest Fund.

Judith and members of Craven Conservation Group took part in survey work in the 1980s when the line was under threat of closure

Other posts relating to the Settle Carlisle Line

Carlisle Mosses - (Superb Syntrichia part 1) 24 Feb 2014

Ribblehead Station Carol Service 2012

Settle Water Tower on Settle Carlisle Line 18 Feb 2012

Settle - Carlisle line - snow, hoar frost and shopping 8 Feb 2012

Ribblehead Station Carol Service 8 Dec 2011

Ferns of Ribblehead Viaduct - 26 July 2009

Mosses Beginners Course 24 May Chapel le Dale Church Ribblehead

Ingleton Overground Underground Festival 2014: 24-26 May www.ogug.co.uk

Discover the Secret World of
Mosses

Absolute Beginners’ Workshop at
Chapel le Dale Churchyard

2pm-4pm Sat 24 May

Join Judith Allinson
of Craven Conservation Group to learn tips to help you identify a dozen of our common big mosses. Absolute Beginners Welcome. Hand lenses available for loan. Judith has large paper models to explain the structure of different species. Cost: £10-00 (includes coffee/tea and hand-outs) Indoor session in St Leonard's Church  followed by short walk in churchyard. Booking requred  - 01729 822138 info@craven-conservation-group.org.uk

Lichens: Beginners Workshop 24 May Ingleton N Yorks

Ingleton Overground Underground Festival 2014: 24-26 May: www.ogug.co.uk:

Discover the Secret World of Lichens

Beginners’ Workshop at
Ingleton Churchyard
10am-12pm Sat 24 May

Lichens under a hand lens: see the beautiful shapes and colours.

Join Judith Allinson

of Craven Conservation Group: First, for an indoor session in St Mary’s Church-room, introducing the structure of lichens and showing some lichens brought in on twigs. Second, for a walk to test the newly written Lichen Trail around the churchyard. Hand lenses provided. Learn tips to help you identify different species. Cost: £5-00 (includes coffee/tea and hand-outs)

Booking necessary: 01729 822138 info@craven-conservation-group.org.uk

A poem on the web about lichens