Do something outdoors - 3 June - Horton Gala - The start of the Pen y Ghent Fell Race
On your marks |
Alpacas from Kirby Lonsdale |
Delight in the Natural World:- This eco-blog by Judith Allinson features:* Settle Wildflower Walks * The Rainforest Fund * Rainforest Issues * Fundraising Ideas * Nature Conservation * Grasses, Mosses, Lichens and Algae * Settle * St John's Methodist Church and Hall, N Yorks * - Started on 1 Jan 2008
If you look close ... |
Very close -- you can see that the male flowers (with anthers) are near the bases of the spikes and the female flowers 9with stigmas) are at the tip. |
The shoots, especially the flowering shoots radiate out from the centre of the oval. |
A bigger tuft |
Here we are at a meadow plot discussing different ways of measuring abundance of species. How can we record a good representation of what is there? |
To work at last.. |
To skip the rambling details you can click here for the point lower down the post where I say what this intriguing plant is.I grew up in Ripon -- with the purple moor (I now realise) of Dallow Gill hazily visible in the distance from the top floor of the science block at school.
View of How Hill from Dallow Moor. The Skell flows into Ripon, just to the left of How Hill |
View NNE: The Pennines slope gently down from west (left) to east |
Bridge over the Skell With Pertusaria corallina lichen |
The Skell |
And here is the plant - with New Zealand Willowherb growing in the wetter banks of the road ditch. I shall have to use Poland and Clement...
Or maybe it is Chamomile Lawn??
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Keying out with Poland led me to the possibility of Cotula.
It was a plant with alternate simple leaves and deeply pinatifid, very slightly fleshy leaves, no hairs; It had buds that showed it was the daisy family, It came out in Section PU in Poland. Cotula coronopifolia is the only daisy type plant in that section. I had a look on the internet at Cotula and "invasive species". (C coronopifolia has yellow petals and is prostrate and grows in salty places, so it wasn't likely to be that species itself)
Keying with Stace, and internet picture searches, and dissection of the flower bud (Asteraceae) which had continued to grow in the plastic bag I had left it in, led me to Cotula australis - Batchelors buttons.
Hmm, no Cotula australis in this part of Yorkshire - surely this area has already been well surveyed.
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3. Digression
Note on Pirri Pirri burr. Pirri Pirri burr has ball-like heads of hooked seeds (burs). It spreads on peoples shoes and animals. The two other places I have seen it are on Lindisfarne where it is a big problem and on Skipwith Common - both are nature reserves. But it has stipules. My plant does not.
You can buy Pirri pirri burr in shops. Plantlife consider that it should be a "Schedule 9" plant - Certain species of plants and animals that do not naturally occur in Great Britain have become established in the wild and represent a threat to the natural fauna and flora. They are put on schedule 9.
4. Further investigation
I was due to take Nidderdale AONB Botany group out to visit that road on Wed 14 June (the next day) .
I emailed The local BSBI recorder, and I emailed Kevin Walker of the BSBI, who I knew would know the area I had visited.
He replied! Thanks.
Yes it is Cotula.. (but not Cotula australis) - It's not in our books! It is Cotula alpina. This plant was reported to him by Linda Robinson in 2009 .., and possibly first noted (though misidentified in c1978) in Nidderdale.. but there is more story to come.. .. that will be on another post
This was his first message to me: -
"It is Cotula alpina from Australia. Linda Robinson first alerted us to it but I've traced records back to 1978 by Harrogate Naturalists. It is widespread on grouse moor tracks on east side of Nidderdale, North York moors and north of Ullapool. In all these areas it is spreading along tracks/road verges. It is a very rare rockery plant but we're not sure how it got from gardens to grouse moors!"
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I have now read Linda Robinson's article on discovering it in 2009.
So - we were eight years late in discovering it.. I wonder how much it has spread since then - the verges on either side of the road are almost entirely this Cotula
Meanwhile, shortly to come are pictures of our day on 14 June:
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View of Vale of Mowbray |
View of Vale of Mowbray/Vale of Pickering |
On this wall were lichens:- Candelariella vitellina and Rhizocarpon reductum |
A view has been cut out looking towards Masham Church |
Thinking about grasses? or just thinking. |
Or watching the man fishing |
Or the children looking for fish? |
Ah we're making notes now |
Thin-Spiked Wood-Sedge - and lots of it. Carex strigosa |
It turned out to be honeysuckle |
View of Mowbay Caste |
View of Mowbray Castle |
View of How Hill from Dallowgill Moor. The Skell flows just to the left of How hill |
The Pennines slope gently down (from West (left) to east |
The Pennines slope gently down (from West (right) to east. The road is going over the water divide between the Laver and Ure to the north and the Skell 1/2 mile ahead |
Bridge ov er the Skell With Pertusaria coraliza lichen |
The Skell |