Settle Wildflowers - Day 3 - Green

Flowers we can see in our gardens and exercise walks around Settle this month. 

Saturday 11 April was White flowers, Sunday 12th was Yellow flowers.   Today Monday 13th the colour is Green flowers around Settle, N Yorkshire

(and listen to  "The Passion in Plants" on BBC radio4 whilst it is still available this month - see our second plant below) 

Flower 1: 
Its initials are D M.
You may not know its name, but you'll all have walked on or through this if you've walked in the woods or along hedgerows around Settle.

(Picture by Geoff Morries)

This carpets the floors of our local woodlands if the bedrock is limestone or other non-acid soil. It grows in limestone pavement and along hedgerows if there is no grazing.

It is the height of a small nettle, though it does not sting. The plants are either male or female. This one is a male and the tiny make flowers on the stalks will have anthers.  

Dog's Mercury is poisonous so don't eat it!!

It has  is often found in ancient woodland, where other special plants grow.  It is not in itself an indicator of ancient woodland.  It has underground stems and can grow at a rate of about 3 foot a year along a new a hedgerow. So if there is already a few plants there it can spread into new woodland given one hundred years or so.

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Flower 2:

This is one that botanists and country lovers get excited about. If you miss seeing its flowers in April , well it is hard to notice or find it again till the next year.

It grows in base rich soil, often at the base of a hedge or trackside.

It has several names: - the one I was taught is "Town Hall Clock.  It has four "clocks" one on each side of the tower"/shoot and one on the tip facing the sky.

Because it is so special I am not going to say exactly which path / lane I found it on, but I was delighted to find it so close to Settle.

The Scientific name is Adoxa moschatellina.

Moschatel means little musk.  It was once collected for its scent 

There has been a delightful series of five talks on wild flowers in radio four this week, late at night: "The Passion in Plants". as Bob Gilbert and Brother Sam of Hilfield Friary go on walks and look fro wildflowers with links to the Easter Story.

Talk 4 -"The Crucifixion - The orchid and the Aspen" include a section on Moschatel - or "Good Friday Plant" as they say it is also known as.

Moschatel - Town Hall Clock (Picture by Judith Allinson)

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Flower 3

The third green flower I am gong to choose is Sycamore. It is barely out yet (13 April) - I always predict that the leaf buds will remain closed and then break on 16th April. 
But I have seen one or two branches that are breaking the rule:
Here is a sycamore flower from beside the Ribble near the Settle College/Middle School (as was) playing fields.


(Picture by Judith Allinson)

Can you see that the leaves look shiny?

As soon as the sycamore buds burst, greenfly leap into action. They suck sugar from the soft newly opening leaves and a lot spills out onto the leaf.

There will be "A hive of  activity" as insects seek to make use of the period as tree leaves open when the leaves are soft and tender to eat.

Tomorrows flower colour will be Blue.

Settle Wildflowers - Day 2 - Yellow

Happy Easter Everyone.
Three golden flowers for Easter Day:
Look out for these in your gardens or in hedgerows of your exercise walks near Settle (or wherever you live in the UK)

Flower 1:
This flower's name begins with C  (see bottom of post for answer)

(Picture by Ray Hill)

It opens in the sun and looks glorious., then closes in the late afternoon.  It grows by the path between the Football pitch and the Settle School playing fields. An in many other places. - lawns pastures, road verges

It has lots of anthers (the blobs at the centre where the pollen is produced).   It is not a buttercup but it belongs to the buttercup family. Buttercups have five petals - how many does this flower have?

  Here's another picture of the same plant: 

(Picture by Gerald Benn)

Still on flower number 1: with petals closed: (by Rachel Benson)

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Flower 2:

                                                         (by Sharon Flint)

This is not a Dandelion.  (It does not have white milk in the stem like dandelions do).

It's name also begins with C.

For those of you who speak French, I'll give you a clue - the french name is   Pas-d’âne 

The scientific name rolls off the tongue   Tussilago farfara  

The flowers come out before the leaves,  The leaves when they grow look a bit like small Butterbur leaves. (Name at end)


Flower 3: 

This flower is almost over,  - It is at its best in February:  but I photographed near the river in Settle yesterday. It's Scientific name also begins with C, and its nickname starts with C - and its English name with  H actually -  (answer at the end) 

Photo by Judith Allinson

I've had several more yellow flowers sent in - I'll post the next set of yellow ones in seven days time.

Tomorrows colour is green. And Tuesday's is blue.

See More Settle Lockdown wildflowers

Answers:  

1 .   It is a celandine!   

2.  Colt's-foot

3.  Catkins - Hazel Catkins

How many did you get right? 

Normandina pulchella

Found some more Normandina pulchella whilst out on my Exercise walk yesterday.  There are only four days left till the buds break on the sycamore trees here on 16th April - so keen to look at more trees for lichens before the leaves cover the lichens

Actually I found the Normandina on Ash - and their leaves won't come out for another three weeks or so. Also it grows on the trunks which are still visible in summer.









 I noticed other trees that are already coming out - Purple willow by the river in Settle, Goat willow with its big catkins, planted grey alder and filed maple on the main road near Stainforth.

Settle Wildflowers - Day 1 - White

Sat 11 April:  White
What wildflowers have you noticed on your exercise walk?

Members of Craven Conservation Group have been sending in their finds

From their gardens or exercise walks near Settle (or home villages)

Here are three white flowers.  

(Picture by Margaret Wilding) 

Wood anemone 
This is "poetic" wild flower - not a garden escape and not a weed.
It grows in woods and in a few hedgerows and even very occasionally corners of meadows that have not been reseeded or had agricultural fertilizers.  We are so lucky to be able to see it in our walks within  1/4 mile of Settle

(Photo by Ged Benn)

Bittercress
If you look closely with a magnifying glass you can count the petals. There are four petals. It is either Hairy Bittercress (a very common garden weed) or Wavy Bittercress (more likely to be found by damp woodland paths)
I am going to guess Wavy Bittercress, because the stems have slight zigzag bends.  But others might decide it is Hairy Bittercress.  This is a common weed in our garden streets now. The leaves taste of cress.

Many of you will have Hairy Bittercress in your garden. There is some growing near the similar looking Shepherd's-purse in the cobbles outside the Coop in Settle

Photo by Judith Allinson

Snowdrops
This was taken in Langcliffe Churchyard in late February 2014 - but it makes a better picture than the snowdrops that are left now.
They are not really wild .. but they look great.






Painting by Doris Cairns 
of Snowdrops in Giggleswick Churchyard

We have lots more white flowers lined up for next Saturday too.

Tomorrow- Sunday's colour is yellow

SD86 - 05a - SD8065 - Huntworth Common

Huntworth Common is a small area of common land lying along the South Craven Fault, uphill of Settle Golf V
Course.  There are usually a few cattle in the field. I was told a long time ago that three people had grazing rights, but I don't know what the situation is now. 

The north west of the fault (and the land to the north west of the road) is Carboniferous Limestone.  (Lying on top of Silurian rock) 

The land to the South West is  Gritstone the fault may be a mile deep. There are also Silurian boulders left by the glacier. 

There was a strip of Common Land all the way from Settle to Lancaster once, but most of it is now enclosed. 

I hoped it would be good. I remember finding Parrot waxcaps here 30 years ago. 

So on 1 April 2019 I set off. I had a quick look at the Ebbing and Flowing well. then at the woodland between the road and the common.

I enjoyed looking at the siliceous rocks and boulders lying around

I had several new species and two especially delightful finds.
1. My first record of Normandina pulchella in SD86 - In moss on the trunk of a very solitary, very exposed Ash Trunk.



I have seen Normandina at Ingleton churchyard (the Hectac SD67 to the NW) and a lot in the woodland at Leck Beck (In Lancashire) a bit further to the NW and in the same SD67)

Thanks to Janet Simpkin and the BLS for the map of Normandina  made in 2019/2020 and the other maps below

2.  I found Pycnothelia papillaria growing in a rocky heathy area -  it is related to Cladonia.  and though it grows in peaty heathland in North West Scotland and Western Ireland and the Dorset Heaths, it is very rare in our area.

I  found  my first  record Punctelia jeckeri  (I think) on some scrub by the wall at the foot of the bank next to the road, and one or two more new species.

Punctellia jeckeri - or just Parmela sulcata? Needs checking

My score for the day  came to 38.  (Remember the cut-offs for colour change are 18 yellow, 29 pale orange, and 41 dark orange, 56 scarlet.)  I  only need to find another 3 to get it into the dark orange category.

Well there is land on Giggleswick Scar - (woodland) , limestone cliffs, and the summit limestone pavement land let to explore another day.
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In fact I did visit the summit in 2020 - on 6 April - that is within walking distance of home so great opportunity for "Lockdown" exercise. .. but I'll write about that another day... Maybe as  SD86 - 05b

May Beck near Whitby - Lichens with the BLS - March 2020 at Cober Hill, Cloughton

[Editor's prescript note added in Feb 2023:There will be a British Lichen Society Workshop Meeting at Cober Hill, Cloughton, Scarborough  24-27 Feb 2023 and a Field meeting with Whitby Naturalists at Arncliffe Woods, Glaisdale near Whitby on Friday 24th  More details at the end of this post]

  6 March 2020: (Yes the last weeks of freedom in UK before COVID)

Join us as we walk down May Beck on the  The British Lichen Society's field day on 6 March 2020  in the North Yorkshire Moors  We are joined by a group from Whitby Naturalists. 
    Yorkshire had repeated record breaking repeating floods all the previous month. Now on the third fine day in a row,  we rejoice the ground is beginning to dry out a little.  
    On the 7th and 8th March (2020) we will be indoors at Cober Hill  enjoying the good food there and sharing of lichen ideas.
    Little do we know that within a fortnight the UK will be in lock-down due to Coronavirus
  

This is the fourth year the British Lichen Society has had a workshop at Cober Hill, Cloughton, near Scarborough.

The first year was an autumn field trip. In 2018, 2019 and this March 2020 were workshops where we brought specimens in ourselves.

We are joined by a bunch from Whitby Naturalists .. some of whom detour in the afternoon to count frogs elsewhere.

There is plenty to see on the big sandstone boulders in the car park 

Pertusaria corallina

Porpidia platycarpoides

Lecidella stigmatea

Trapelia coarctata

Trapelia coarctata seen closer

Lecidia lithophylla

Clauzadea monticola

An Ash tree by the bridge

Lecanora hybocarpa (The apothecia will have more crystals in than Lecanora chlarotera )

Thelotrema lapidinum on holly near the ash tree.

Fuscidea lightfootii

Cladonia polydactyla

Cladonia polydactyla

Waiting to find the name of this splendid fungus - Have any of the Whitby Nats people found out yet?

Cliostomum griffithii

Ochrolechia microstictoides yellow with C (not red);
diffuse soralia; on acid bark trees

Ochrolechia microstictoides yellow with C (not red). Diffuse soralia. on acid bark trees

Lecanora expallens  K  yellow; C yellow to orange red

Arthonia spadicia  Tar Spot

Dimerella pineti

This is the first time I have seen Dimerella pineti

Opegrapha ochrocheila

Opegrapha ochrocheila: the black lirellate apothecia are orange red pruinose

On the Saturday and Sunday we spend time in the workroom at Cober Hill helping each other with specimens that had been puzzling us over the year.  Thanks especially to Neil Sanderson and Brian Coppins for helping us.



On the way home I stop at a tree near the road near Hackness to the north of the Forge Valley. Over the road was Crossdales Beck, which shortly joined the River Derwent. The river Derwent and the river Aire which starts near Malham Tarn 80 miles to the east both flow into the Ouse. (This observation kinks in with other flooding items on this blog)

On the tree is Calicium viride.  It is VERY tiny. It is a pinhead lichen.

Calicium viride. 

I return home with renewed enthusiasm to continue studying my home hectad SD 86 which I started after last year's Lichen workshop...

And lots of opportunity to study the trees near where I live in exercise walks, in the five weeks before the leaves come on the trees and hide them!

Do visit the The British Lichen Society Website. Many of the events which were planned for this year (2020) will be held next year...   

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Feb 2023:

There will be a British Lichen Society Workshop Meeting at Cober Hill, Cloughton, Scarborough  24-27 Feb 2023 and a Field meeting with Whitby Naturalists at Arncliffe Woods, Glaisdale near Whitby on Friday 24th  

The Friday field meeting will start at 10.30am for the Whitby Naturalists and 10.15am for the British Lichen Society - So may be the official "Introduction time" is 10.30am.

Meet Beggars Bridge Glaisdale YO21 2QL Grid ref NZ 1805472

ANY ONE INTERESTED in LICHENS or STARTING to LEARN ABOUT LICHENS is welcome, (Beginners especially in the morning). There are likely to be some complete beginners amongst the Whitby Naturalists.

I would like to arrange for a visit for a small group for any of the Whitby Naturalists and others from the area who might like to call in at the the Workshop to see what we are doing, and look at some of our specimens. If you are such a person please can you contact me so that we can fix up a time. - sometime on the Saturday or Sunday.

Sesleria caerulea Blue Moor-grass at Winskill Stones Plantlife reserve

March, April and Blue Moor-grass out now adorning the rocky limestone slopes above above Settle and Langcliffe with its, yes, blue flowers. The grass stems are still very short, but they will grow rapidly.  In Langcliffe and Settle we are lucky the limestone cliffs are in within easy walking distance.  (This picture was taken on 23 March)

Blue Moor-grass is easy to identify because it is the only grass in flower  in March and early April - apart from Annual Meadow-grass which flowers all year and Good Friday Grass - which is really a Woodrush -Luzula campestris. 

These photos were taken at the Plantlife Reserve: Winskill Stones
The Blue Moor-grass is in the mid distance.

In the foreground on the limestone rocks is the marmalade coloured lichen Caloplaca flavescens, and capping the rock are huge patches of white Aspicilia calcarea