2004 Derbyshire and Cheshire 28th to 30th June Main Meeting
A summer meeting, but as the notes will show for the following excursions in July rain predominates. What a contrast to lastyear. A few of us met the previous evening to look at a few extra plants that Julie knew of. She started us off with Rosa x alba(white rose of York) and another handsome pink rose hybrid Rosa x virginiana. A swift dash up a lane in the drizzle gave us two unusual arable weeds, a particularly beautiful yellow and purple Galeopsis speciosa (large-flowered hemp-nettle) and Sisymbrium vulgare (Russian mustard); and thence to a meadow where another hybrid had been discovered of Rorippsylvestris x R. austriaca = R. x armoracioides (Walthamstow yellowcress).
Seventeen of us met the following morning at Miller's Dale in the Derbyshire Peaks at the start of the Monsal Trail. There is an old railway station here, one of the victims of Dr Beeching's cuts in 1963. On a wall was a fully flowering Erigeron acer(blue fleabane) and on the car park wall was Linaria repens (pale toadflax). A walk along the woodland path and by the old lime kilns in Clee Dale Julie showed us a narrow-leaved form of hogweed - Heracleum sphondyllium var. angustifolium - and Arrhenatherum elatius var. bulbosum (false oat grass). A small colony of Pyrola minor (common wintergreen) was revealed to us growing in the shade, and close by yet another rose cross that had been identified as Rosa pimpinellifolia x R. mollis (R. sabinii). The old railway track had Solidago virgaurea (goldenrod) and Polemonium caeruleum (Jacob's ladder) and good patches of Genista tinctoria (dyer's greenweed).
The rain started and we donned our waterproofs in Miller's Dale quarry where Poa compressa (flattened meadow-grass) grew on the walls. We strode up the hillside until we reached an old quarry pit that had several plants of Gymnadenia conopsea ssp. conopsea (fragrant orchid) and Galium stemeri (limestone bedstraw). A red clover gave a few of us some problems until it was identified as Trifoiium medium(zigzag clover) which has narrow leaves with no white markings and its stipule is narrowly lanceolate and pointed. These hills are the site of old leadmines and the spoil heaps are now covered in grass. We found only one Viola lutea (mountain pansy) - in its yellow form - with five diminutive Coeloglossum viride (frog orchid), and on the leeward side of the banks Minuartia verna (spring sandwort), known locally as leadwort.
Through an old railway cutting took us to a steep slope which revealed amongst the grasses Carex ornithopoda (bird's-foot sedge) no more than a couple of inches high, but with its eponymous fruit. A lone Sorbus rupicola (whitebeam) grew, and, in its shade amongst the scree was Gymnocarpium robertianum (limestone fern) erroneously called a polypody up here in the north.
A National Trust area known as Ravenstor led us up through woodland to view an as yet unflowering Hieracium prenanthoides (a hawkweed). The roadside verge had Myrrhis odorata (sweet Cicely), many campion-like plants of Silene nutans (Nottingham catchfly) and blue pendant bells of Campanula trachelium (nettle-leaved bellflower). On turning a corner on the climb back up the stone steps to the car park was a roof carpeted in Sedum acre (biting stonecrop), virtually the only sunshine we had had all day, and close by Ribes montanum (mountain currant) hanging over the walls. Down the valley to Wyedale which connects via a path back up to the Monsal Trail, and by the electricity substation car park of all places were two more members of the hawkweed family to admire - Hieracium cymbifolium with its black glandular hairs and boat shaped leaves, and H. grandidens, with its 'pinched' flowering heads and jagged foliage. Along this same path was H. pellucidum, which showed a leaf shape similar to grandidens but was shiny above and rubescent below. A few yards away in the shrubbery was Draba incana (hoary whitlowgrass). On the way back into town a lay-by had many plants of Saxifraga x polita (false London-pride) growing out of the stone walls.
The rain continued to soak us the following day but it did not dampen our spirits. Finding the first venue was a challenge for most of us, but we eventually set off about 45 minutes later - unfortunately one member still had not arrived by the time we meandered our way along the river at Weaver Parkway, part of the Mersey Forest, near Winford in Cheshire. When we returned to our cars he had found our vehicles but there was no sign of him. Directions were left to our next site but, unfortunately, we did not meet up with him again that day (sorry, Steve). For an inland area some maritime plants had found their way here, one example being Spergularia marina(lesser sea-spurrey). We found both Juncus bufonius (toad rush) and J. ambiguus (frog rush), one difference between them being the shape of their fruiting capsules, the first having an acute apex and the second being truncate (and with the eye of faith!)
Waste ground by a roundabout on the A54 just outside Winsford gave us a couple of opportunities to show beginners the subtle differences between very similar species when they grow side by side. These were Tripleurospermum inodorum (scentless mayweed) and Matricaria recutita (scented mayweed) with their solid and hollow receptacles respectively; and Persicaria maculosa (redshank) with P. lapathifolia (pale persicaria) the latter with its glandular hairs on the pedicels. A subspecies of fumitory was discovered here which was the fewer flowered Fumaria officinalis ssp. wirtgenii. By now the weather was improving - at least it had stopped raining. A drive through country lanes took us to Whitegate Pond where to the bemusement of some local fishermen we saw at the water's edge a handsome umbellifer which proved to be the poisonous Cicuta virosa (cowbane).
Lunchtime beckoned and at our next stop at Hatchmere where we parked in the Delamere Forest the sun actually beamed down on us. We took advantage of it and sat enjoying our sandwiches. Very close by we were led to a relatively small area of bog which was amazingly rich in plants and yielded hundreds of Potentilla palustris (marsh cinquefoil), a small patch of the delicately pink Andromeda polifolia (bog rosemary) adjacent to Vaccinium oxycoccos (cranberry). The white wavy downy heads of cottongrass proved to be Eriophorum angustifolium and E. vaginatum, and the yellow spikes of Narthecium ossifragum (bog asphodel) would prove to be a splendid sight in another few days. Completing this picture were the tiny white flowers of Drosera rotundifolia (round-leaved sundew). On the way back to the cars we were shown a bramble species which had pale pink petals which were widely spaced, Rubus sprengelii. Unfortunately our day finished on a rather low and disastrous note when we returned to our vehicles to find four of our cars had been broken into. One gentleman had his suitcase stolen, one lady had money stolen from hers, another lady lost a camera and from my boot my bag was stolen. It contained the usual things like mobile phone, cheque book, driving licence, etc but most invaluable and irreplaceable of all was three years worth of diary notes and field meetings. The police were called who eventually came, but it did put a dampener on a splendid couple of days.
All thanks to Julie Clarke for all her work - and boy can she set a walking pace!
STEPHEN CLARKSON