Chickweed-Wintergreen and Tree Heather

I popped over to Ilkley Moor this weekend to check out the large stand of Chickweed-wintergreen (Trientalis europaea) after hearing from Peter Kerr that it was looking good this year. It is a plant I last saw on an undergraduate trip to Scotland (shockingly that was nearly 30 years ago now), so long overdue a reacquaintance. It really was looking good, but more on that in a moment.

On the way to the Chickweed-wintergreen, I climbed up the Cow and Calf onto the ridge above to get my bearings. I could of course just tracked straight to my target using a GPS, but where is the fun in that? Half the pleasure is in the exploring and seeing what you find on route, and in my view it is always more satisfying to find the right spot the old fashioned way with a map and (hopefully) a good sense of direction.

So, up on the ridge a flash of gold caught my eye. This turned out to be, rather surprisingly, the golden cultivar of Tree Heather (Erica arborea 'Estrella Gold'). I can't believe that it has seeded itself all the way up here, so I assume it was planted by someone at some point in the past. Perhaps as a memorial to a loved one. It seems well established now though.

Cow and Calf

Tree Heather

Chickweed-wintergreen

Stylish Shrubs

Spring is nearly here so time to get back into this blogging lark. As a warm-up for me, I am going to start with a random assortment of attractive and/or quirky shrubs found over the last month or so in VC64.

Starting with a native, I can't really beat Howard Beck's find and photos of Mezereon (Daphne mezereum) near Selside.

Also from Howard was this unusual form of Yew (Taxus baccata Argentea Group) at Holden. The fastigiate form is common in churchyards, and sometimes you find the golden form, but I have not seen this cultivar before. Hopefully it will survive and grow into a fine tree.

Keeping with the variegated theme, but with added spines, was this curious Holly I found at Ilkley - Ilex aquifolium 'Ferox Argentea'. It appears to be a bird sown occurrence, as the location suggests a planted origin is unlikely.

Next a climber, this is the third most common ivy in VC64, rivalled for distribution only by Hedera helix f. helix and Hedera hibernica Hibernica Group. This is Hedera helix f. pedata (deliberately avoiding use of 'Pedata' given all the wild occurrences are bird sown and therefore not the true garden selection) which I found in two locations around Ilkley, one in Heber's Ghyll and one near Cow and Calf. Photos of both in that order.

Finally, the attractive red buds of Darwin's Barberry (Berberis darwinii) from The Tarn, Ilkley Moor.

To Addingham and Back Again (VC64)

Time for a bit of a catch up on local news. Last week I took a trip over to Ilkley as I had always fancied a walk along the river towards Bolton Abbey, but had never quite made it. Spring was definitely springing in Wharfedale, but not as advanced as on my local patch. So I enjoyed a second final hurrah from the daffodils, while also being able to enjoy some of the species just starting to come into there own.

It was nice to see the thriving colony of Fairy Foxglove (Erinus alpinus) on Old Bridge, Ilkley. Far too early for flowers though.

(photo by Jerzy Opiola, Wikimedia Commons)

Not a rare plant, but I forget how prolific Few-flowered Garlic (Allium paradoxum var. paradoxum) is along the Wharfe. All those bulbs where there should be flowers.

A surprise find on a tree stump well away from gardens was Trailing Bellflower (Campanula poscharskyana), but this is not my first find of this species on an isolated river bank.

On the river bank at Addingham, and likely of planted origin, was Star Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides).

Moving up hill away from the river towards Langbar, I was surprised to find a Chameleon ... i.e. Sweet Spurge (Euphobia dulcis 'Chameleon'). The hedgerow along Langbar Lane also had the hybrid hawthorn Crataegus x subsphaerica (to be seen again later in the hedge bounding Ilkley golf course).

Another nice find on Langbar Lane was a particularly robust lush clump of Alternate-leaved Golden-saxifrage (Chrysosplenium alternifolium).

A rubbish photo but this odd Daffodil (Narcissus 'Pipit') lit up a shady beck bank at Nesfield. I'm not even going to try linking this to a named Daffodil species or hybrid! Google it for a better image.

Back towards Ilkley were Garden Solomon's-seal (Polygonatum x hybridum) and this striking, and very early into bloom this year, Broom (Cytisus scoparius subsp. scoparius f. andreanus).

Ilkley Moor Baht 'at

I finally made it, after 7 years of not really trying, up Ilkley Moor this week in the heat of Tuesday and probably unwisely without 'at. This is of course a well botanised site so I was not expecting to add much new to the plant list, and in this light I did quite well.

The first good find was a new stand of the non-native Silver Lady's-mantle (Alchemilla conjuncta), extending its range into a new tetrad.

Not a new location, but of interest to me was the enigma that is Cut-leaved Bramble (Rubus laciniatus). No one really knows this species origins, or whether it is native or endemic to Britain. It is certainly not native in Yorkshire, but in comparison with the thug that is Himalayan Giant (Rubus armeniacus), I am more than happy to welcome it.

By far the best find of the day, apologies in advance for the over-exposed photo I blame the low late season sun!, was a colony of Knotted Pearlwort (Sagina nodosa) along the the historic alignment of Keighley Road. From the data available to me, it does not appear to have been reported from the Moor for decades, so I am pleased to have refound it. The associated Eyebright (Euphrasia) is giving me headaches and is one for the BSBI referee.

To end with, here is the view from Addingham High Moor where the carpets of Heather (Calluna vulgaris) were at peak bloom. Scenic as it is, it is important not to forget what an impoverished habitat this is for native flora. Over a century of over-management for grouse does not leave room for much else, and it is not a very satisfying habitat for a botanist. That said, Ilkley Moor seems to be suffering the opposite effect i.e. a legacy of under-management resulting in an ever increasing dominance of Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum). There must be a middle ground somewhere, but it is a challenge to find the most favourable balance in the modern world where traditional agriculture and land management is no longer economic.

Drumsticks and Squills

I spent Good Friday in the sunshine of Wharfedale (VC64), primarily to have a look at snowdrops before they completely go over with the aim of finding some more locations for Hybrid Snowdrop (Galanthus x valentinei). This was achieved with ease, it really is very common and under-recorded, with some fine stands in and around Denton and in Ilkley cemetary. There were even a few double-flowered clumps. So that's another new hectad, and a dot for the BSBI Atlas 2020 project.

Heading down into Middleton, I was surprised to find a few plants of Drumstick Primrose (Primula denticulata) on some rough ground by a barn. They had not been planted and must have arisen from seeds or discarded plants spread with soil or spilt garden waste from a nearby garden. There was one pink flowered plant and two white flowered ones, and they looked like they had persisted for at least a couple of years.

Heading into Ilkley, on the way back to Ben Rhydding railway station, I took the opportunity to pop into the cemetery where I knew Siberian Squill (Scilla siberica) had been reported in the past. I found several fine stands with ease, naturalised over old graves and spreading in the adjacent grassland.