Moonwort is a small fern.
The Online Atlas of the British Flora describes Moonwort as:
A small fern, often occurring singly or in small populations. It prefers well-drained sites, usually with a high base-content, although it can occur on more acidic substrates. Habitats include meadows, pastures, open woodland, sand dunes and grassy rock ledges. It can also colonise slag heaps and quarry spoil. 0-1065 m (Ben Lawers, Mid Perth)
It goes on to say
B. lunaria was lost from many lowland sites before 1930, and this loss has continued, particularly in N. England, due to grassland improvement and scrub invasion. There appear to have been some losses in upland areas,
At the YNU Zoom meetings in 2020 Barry White gave a talk about the Moonwort surveys he has done, including in Swaledale.. implying that Moonwort is an upland plant whereas Adder's-toungue fern is more of a lowland plant.
When I worked at Malham the 1980s I regularly was able to show adult students on the Wildflowers Course the moonwort that grew in the limestone pasture just above the cliff and scree slope above High Stables at . I would come across it occasionally on other walks too in limestone pasture. In c 1999 I found it at Winskill Stones.
I found it at Scar Close.
However I have not seen it for maybe 20 years, except for two sites.
Why has it disappeared?
The fields where I found it before I still grazed to some extent. The field above the Field Centre had much lower grazing for several years.
Anyway, I was delighted to find it this year at a new place - between Grewelthorpe and the Moor. The It is in a hay meadow that has had Yellow Rattle introduced. The bedrock is gritstone. the height was just over 240m. I wonder if the meadow 20 years ago was actually pasture then rather than meadow.
There were two plants. I was surveying in the late evening to avoid the heat of the midday sun, so I did not have time to search further.
The same farm in a very different field had four plants of Adder's Tongue growing close together.
A small fern, often occurring singly or in small populations. It prefers well-drained sites, usually with a high base-content, although it can occur on more acidic substrates. Habitats include meadows, pastures, open woodland, sand dunes and grassy rock ledges. It can also colonise slag heaps and quarry spoil. 0-1065 m (Ben Lawers, Mid Perth)
It goes on to say
B. lunaria was lost from many lowland sites before 1930, and this loss has continued, particularly in N. England, due to grassland improvement and scrub invasion. There appear to have been some losses in upland areas,
At the YNU Zoom meetings in 2020 Barry White gave a talk about the Moonwort surveys he has done, including in Swaledale.. implying that Moonwort is an upland plant whereas Adder's-toungue fern is more of a lowland plant.
When I worked at Malham the 1980s I regularly was able to show adult students on the Wildflowers Course the moonwort that grew in the limestone pasture just above the cliff and scree slope above High Stables at . I would come across it occasionally on other walks too in limestone pasture. In c 1999 I found it at Winskill Stones.
I found it at Scar Close.
However I have not seen it for maybe 20 years, except for two sites.
Why has it disappeared?
The fields where I found it before I still grazed to some extent. The field above the Field Centre had much lower grazing for several years.
Anyway, I was delighted to find it this year at a new place - between Grewelthorpe and the Moor. The It is in a hay meadow that has had Yellow Rattle introduced. The bedrock is gritstone. the height was just over 240m. I wonder if the meadow 20 years ago was actually pasture then rather than meadow.
There were two plants. I was surveying in the late evening to avoid the heat of the midday sun, so I did not have time to search further.
The same farm in a very different field had four plants of Adder's Tongue growing close together.
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