Holy Island Meeting July 15th & 16th 2006
Zostera marina(Common Eelgrass)
Silybum marianum(Milk Thistle)
Trifolium arvense(Hare's-foot Clover)
St Cuthbert's Island (10 minutes after splashdown)
Zostera noltei(Dwarf Eelgrass)
Limonium vulgare(Common Sea-lavender)
Atriplex portulacoides(Sea Purslane)
Old Bendictine Priory(Norman times until Henry V111)
Lindisfarne July 15th afternoon: Zostera
Eventually we came to a stretch of shore covered in green slime.
Anyway that’s what it looked like to a non-botanist but we quickly found that Elizabeth had led us to a site where Zostera marina (Common Eelgrass) and Zostera noltei (Dwarf Eelgrass) grow side by side so we could compare the two.
These are now the only two Eelgrasses as the one which appears in many books: Zostera angustifolia (Narrow-leaved Eelgrass) is now subsumed as a variety into Zostera marina. Both of these plants are not only rarities according to Stace but you can usually only see them at low tide. Even then they are best viewed in rock pools where they do look like underwater grasses. The photos don't really do justice to the obvious differences between the two Eelgrasses. Z. marina is obviously broader and longer than Z. noltei.
Being a Wild Flower Society trip we naturally enquired about flowers without any real hope, as these Zostera sp just look like stringy seaweed. Very soon our sharp-eyed leader had identified flowers on Zostera marina (Common Eelgrass) and showed us how to find them.
The much smaller Zostera noltei (Dwarf Eelgrass) with its thinner leaves proved tougher but very soon flowers were found on these too. For those who haven’t seen Eel grasses before please don’t expect to find a flower with petals. This plant has a very small grass-like flower head hidden in a sort of pouch which means that most of the time it appears just as a bump on the stem. Only botanists get excited about a flower like this and the photographs were equally unconvincing.
Time and tide ....
From here we moved further along the shore noting Rheum x hybridum (Rhubarb) and Silybum marianum (Milk Thistle) in the dunes. It was not long before we would have to turn back in order to leave Lindisfarne but we had enough time to investigate St Cuthbert’s Island. This is another small island which you can get to when the tide is out, hopping from rock to rock avoiding the small pools and the sea-weed.
Here Elizabeth showed us Limonium vulgare (Common Sea Lavender) in flower and I stopped to take a photo. The others had departed and were on the main Holy Island but I spotted some Atriplex portulacoides (Sea Purslane) and stopped to take a photo of that as well.
This turned out to be a bad idea.
The tide had started to turn in the outer reaches and was beginning to flow back between St Cuthbert's Island and Lindisfarne. Many of the rocks on which I had successfully used to hop to St Cuthbert’s were now underwater and you could see a fast flowing river of tidal water into the gap between St Cuthbert's and Holy Island.
So that’s what they were shouting about.
Anyway there was no point in messing about - you couldn’t walk over those rocks in bare feet so I splashed my way back to the others with sea water well over the top of my boots. They of course, too busy enjoying my predicament, had quite forgotten the first rule of opportunistic journalism – get your camera out.
We tried to find a few clovers on the headland but the fine weather had burned off everything except a nice clump of Trifolium arvense (Hare’s-foot clover). We did get an excellent view of the old ruined Priory from this headland.
From here they walked and I squelched through the town pausing to buy some local ice-cream then back to the cars and over the causeway in good time.
Altogether this was a superb day’s leisurely botanising in wonderful weather with a cooling sea breeze throughout the day.
The weather forecast for the next day was excellent so my boots might well dry out over night.