Sunday 27 September 2020

Settle Wildflowers - Day 85 - Red(dish) 19 - Heather, Foxglove & Michaelmas Daisy

Heather comes out in August.



It grows on acid soils

Either gritstone, or where bad drainage on boulder clay has allowed peat to form. The land on the west side of South Craven Fault, is Grits and some shales. The fault runs north south down just to the east of Settle.

I had hoped either to revisit Hunter Bark, or to tick off Heather flowers on my walk to Cockett Moss on 30 Aug. but I never reached Cockett Moss. This is because Giggleswick Station was so good for flowers.

I did record a late Foxglove on my walk half way to Cockett Moss on 30 August - It also prefers acid soils.



Foxglove

However on17 Sept I was invited on a lane-side walk to Routster which is in a similar direction to Cockett Moss (but a mile and half NW). There was heather in the verge.

Ling Heather - Calluna vulgaris



Ling Heather - Calluna vulgaris


Growing on the opposite verge to the heather was a fine patch of Michaelmas Daisies. This was a week ago, but I am sure they are still out now - 29 September. Michaelmas, or the Feast of Michael and All Angels, is celebrated on the 29th of September every year.







It is Aster lanceolatus. Narrow-leaved Michaelmas Daisy.
(I think)
Stace (in the book Now flora of the British Isles) says
"The cultivated Michaelmus Daisies that are found in the wild are difficult to determine due to hybrdisation between A. nov-belgii and 2 other species. These two hybrids and A lanceolatus appera to be the commonest taxa and show every grade of variation from one parent to the other.
Interesting that this is the genus that has given the name to all the Asteraceae family.

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Reflections on the location.
Routster and Wham are on the water divide between the Ribble draining south and the Wenning draining north west

Routster is -where?

beyond Wham - Where?

Beyond the long way round from Giggleswick Station to Rathmell

Where

Beyond Settle, in the foothill of the Forest of Bowland.

This is a quiet area far west of Settle that my friends said was very quiet except when Lockdown in April sent people exploring, and when DofE walkers get lost. People more usually go for walks to the Limestone hills on the east side of Settle.

What pleased me tremendously is that this is the water divide between the streams that drain down to the Ribble in the South and to the Wenning in the north.

It would be good to do a walk along a line from near Routster to Craven Ridge. across the highest point of the-Giggleswick-Bentham Morecambe Line (and the lowest part of the walk) to Paley Green across the bypass and then up steeply to Huntworth Common then to Bucker Brow and Giggleswick Scar.

More Heather Pictures: 

Below is the heather area of Hunter Bark on my walk on 25 May before the Flowers had come out.




A nice picture at Keasden (8 miles away) 23 Sept



Click here for more  Settle Lockdown Wildflower Walks








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