Alpine Cotula Expands its Range

Bruce Brown has been busy over the last few months processing an exceptional number of records collected by the Wharfedale Naturalist's in 2020, a very large number of which are directly attributable to Bruce and Carmen Horner. I have only just started to look in detail at what they found, but one record that immediately jumped out as interesting was a new location for Alpine Cotula (Cotula alpina).

Photo by G. Richards, Assynt Field Club website

Alpine Cotula is a native of Australia and was added to the British List as recently as 2009. It shows a strong affinity with grouse moors and is widely established in the North York Moors, and the moors of Nidderdale to the north of Pateley Bridge. Linda Robinson provides an account of the discovery of this species here, and further images can be found here.

Bruce and Carmen have now extended this species distribution to the grouse moors of Wharfedale, having found it August 2020 on Burley Moor (VC64). Time will tell how established it is in that area, one to look out for as it is probably more widely established.

Lesser Centaury at St Aidan's

Phyl Abbott sent me news the weekend before last that Lesser Centaury (Centaureum pulchellum) had been found at St Aidan's (VC64), so I couldn't resist going for a look. This a rare plant in the county with only one other known location at Fairburn Ings. Sure enough I found it, the tiniest of tiny plants edging the causeway at the spring high water mark. Just a shame the flowers were closed that day.

The drawdown zone was carpeted with the non-native Buttonweed (Cotula coronopifolia), while elsewhere the gravelly edges of tracks supported some good stands of Hare's-foot Clover (Trifolium arvense).

I can't resist also sharing a photo of the Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas) butterflies that lit up one sheltered corner of the site.