2003 Cleveland 28th to 29th June Main Meeting
Day one was spent exploring Coatham Dunes just to the north of Redcar on the southern side of the Tees Estuary. They are quite hilly and formed from very fine and in general very clean sand mostly held together by Leymus arenarius (lyme grass) and Ammophila arenaria (marram grass). When a very competent botanical friend first took me to the Dunes about 15 years ago I thought she had taken leave of her senses. I have a feeling that the brave souls who joined me there on the Saturday may well have harboured similar thoughts about me!
The Dunes lie in the shadow of Corns' Redcar steel plant, which has been threatened with closure for several years. The plant always gives me the impression that it is made of piles of rust from which, every so often jets of steam, often mixed with rather odoriferous and pungent gases, are released. Fortunately they kept most of the more unpleasant emissions to themselves while we were there and since the dunes are quite extensive, once we got started the steel plant tended to merge into the background and for most of the time we forgot its existence.
Despite, or perhaps because of the industrial fallout, the range of plants that have established themselves on the dunes is absolutely amazing. We were exploring from about 10.00am until 7.00pm with a short break for lunch. Between us we recorded 168 plant species, plus quite a few birds and butterflies and some rather attractive cinnabar moth caterpillars which feed mainly on ragwort. They are very local in this area. Amongst our more notable botanical records were: Lactuca virosa (great lettuce), Cakile maritima (sea rocket), Phleum arenarium (sand cat's-tail), Catapodium rigidum and C. marinum (rigid and sea fern grasses), Thalictrum minus (lesser meadow-rue), Melilotus albus (white melilot), Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani (grey club-rush), Carex distans (distant sedge), Erigeron acer (blue fleabane), Ophrys apifera (bee orchid), Gymnadenia conopsea (fragrant orchid), Astragalus danicus(purple milk vetch), Atriplex lacinata (frosted orache), loads of Cicorum intybus (chicory), several coloured varieties of Medicago sativa ssp. varia (lucerne), Securigera varia (crown vetch) and masses of Petroselinum crispum (parsley) which has been established for many years.
On Sunday we were joined by an extra member about 20 miles further up the coast to visit a totally different area. Castle Eden Dene is one of a number of coastal denes which run approximately at right angles to the coast. It is essentially a very stee p sided gorge formed out of Magnesian Limestone rocks from the Permian age (c.230-280 million years ago). These are exposed in several places and form impressive cliffs that vary in colour from pale yellow to muddy brown. In some places the cliffs are soft enough to dig into with one's fingers; birds and burrowing insects have no problem getting into it! The Dene was originally in private hands but has been managed by English Nature for several years now. Densely wooded, it contains a fine range of well-established trees and shrubs. Most of the trees are deciduous but a notable feature is the quantity of quite large (and presumably quite old) yew trees that grow there.
The Dene is also home to one of the few remaining colonies of red squirrel in the north of England although we were not lucky enough to see one. Overall we recorded 102 species during our visit including Euonymus europaeus (spindle) quite scarce in the north. Paris quadrifolia (herb parts), extensive thickets of Equisetum telmateia(giant horsetail), masses of Phyllitis scolopendrium (hart's-tongue fern), Polystichum aculeatum (hard shield fem), Sanicula europaea (wood sanicle), Rubus parviflorus(thimbleberry) spreading a lot since I first found it several years ago. Tellima grandiflora (fringecups), Philadelphus coronarius (mock orange), Hypericum androsaemum (tutsan) and Campanula latifolia (giant bellflower).
TOM SPOWART