Results from Horton-in-Ribblesdale
6-14 June is "Churches Count on Nature Week", promoted by Caring for God's Acre, the conservation charity for burial grounds across the UK
Horton-in-Ribblesdale on Sunday afternoon 7 June 2026, held one of one of the first "churchyard counts" in the Yorkshire Dales this week.
(There are lots of pictures at the end. I am still writing this post.)
I was delighted to be accompanied by local entomologist Dr Terry Whitaker who pointed out several interesting features:-
It was Messy Church Sunday and six children from Messy Church and some parents took time off from their indoor artistic work with vicar Revd Stephen Dawson to come outside into the relative cold, and help look for creatures and plants in flower.
They joined five members of Craven Conservation Group including local botanist Judith Allinson and entomologist Terry Whitaker. Margaret Barker of Horton Church showed where she, with the team from the church had placed wildflowers and wildflower seeds in previous years, including some "wildflower bombs" by the footpath She showed some of the bushes that had been planted.
Judith observed:
"The churchyard grass seems a good mixture of short grass on the paths and cut paths through the grass, then some areas with medium length grass. And some patches where the grass is rarely cut and has grown very long, and become dominated by the tall "False-Oat-grass" which shades out other plants. The variety of management allows different insects and different plants to live in the different habitats."
They spent about 30 minutes this cold Sunday afternoon (cold after the previous week's heatwave) looking in the churchyard. The list became: 11 Grasses in flower, 2 Grasslike plants in flower, 24 Herbs in flower, plus a variety of minibeasts.
Named so far includes
11 grasses:
Sweet Vernal Grass, Downy Oat-grass, Yellow Oat-grass, Meadow Foxtail, Red Fescue
Yorkshire Fog, Rough Meadow-grass, Smooth Meadow-grass,
False Oat-grass, Ryegrass, Cock's-foot
2 grasslike:
24 herbs in flower:
White (5):
Ox-eye Daisy, Daisy, Spring Whitlow-grass, Common Mouse-ear Chickweed, White CloverRed Clover, Herb Robert, Shining Crane's-bill, Cuckoo flower (aka Mayflower, Ladies-smock, Milkmaid)
Orange or brown or greenish (4)
Fox and Cubs, Common Sorrel; Ribwort Plantain; Procumbent PearlwortBlue (4):
Bird's-eye (Germander) Speedwell. Wall Speedwell, Forget me not, Columbine (Aquilegia)
Yellow (6):
Purple (1):
Bush vetch1 seven spot ladybird -
1 named Moss - Springy Turf Moss
1 named slug (out of four found): Leopard Slug
2 snails:
the Garden Snail,
the Strawberry Snail.
1 Woodlouse we hope to name shortly
1 gall on Germander Speedwell: the Gall-Midge -Jaapeilla veronicae
3 Birds: Blackbird, Greenfinch and Crow/Rook.
The three lichens which caught people's attention were: Map Lichen (bright yellow green); White-rim Lichen Lecanora rupicola (now called Glaucomaria rupicola) which grows on silica rich rocks such as the slaty material used for the Horton grave stones; and Limestone Firedot Lichen Caloplaca flavescens (now called Variospora flavescens
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| Columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris) -probably garden escape or planted at the back churchyard entrance. |
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| Herb Robert on the steps |
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| Ox-eye (Dog) Daisies, Meadow Buttercup , Ribwort Plantain and Common Sorrel |
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| Red Clover |
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| Downy Oat-grass - This is one of the "Indicator species" that can be found in old Dales Hay Meadows. |
This type of rock was called "Horton Flags" and there is a good article about their use by Bill Mitchell here. In fact there are a variety of new geological names given to the Silurian and Ordovician rocks which are quarried at the local quarries at Horton and Helwith Bridge (See article). These are some of the oldest rock layers in Yorkshire.
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| Margaret Barker (second from left) from Horton Church with three members of Craven Conservation Group |
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| Yorkshire Fog |
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| Pendulous Sedge |
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| Cat's-ear |
The Cat's-ear has simple hairs on its leaves.
Unlike a plant with similar flowers -
Rough Hawk's-bit which has forked hairs. Bend the leaf over yur finger and use a hand-lens
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| Pointing out Variospora flavescens (formerly called Caloplaca flavescens) at the church entrance. |
On to the Animals:-
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| Seven Spot Ladybird. It has a wing that is blackened due to some form of damage. Dr Terry Whitaker pointed out several interesting features:- |
- The relatively newly planted ACER at the back right hand corner of the churchyard is not a sycamore (as I had surmised when seeing it in winter) it has very pale leaves that are much more pointed than sycamore. - - We could see a shoot coming from near its base that had dark green leaves- It must be from the rootstock.
- We discovered new creatures by looking under stones, and carefully replacing the stone afterwards. Creatures under one such stone, however, lost their home as one of the lads at Messy Church returned the stone to its original home on the wall. (below)
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| The Garden Snail |
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| The Leopard Slug |
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| Same picture but with contrast increased to try and reveal the "leopard's spots" |
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| Activity inside the church |
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| Equipment for decorating biscuits |
