2005 Combs Priestley and Swingens Woods Suffolk 7th May One Day Meeting
Combs Wood is ancient woodland owned by Suffolk Wildlife Trust. We approached it from St. Mary's Church in Stowmarket, through the graveyard then across a small meadow, pausing to discuss whether the Barbarea (wintercress) was vulgaris or not, to count stigmas in the hawthorn to establish whether it was Crataegus monogyna, C. laevigata or x media (common, midland or hybrid) and to compare three kinds of buttercup. Ranunculus repens, acris and bulbosus (creeping, meadow and bulbous). Just inside the wood we were greeted by more members of the same family: while some of us tried to conjure up from memory what we knew of R. auricomus (goldilocks) - basal leaves reniform, achenes pubescent should have sprung to mind – others equipped with Stace were busy by the pond keying out water crowfoots. Leaves submerged or floating? Honey guides pear-shaped or crescent-shaped? Careful unravelling of slithery greenery revealed two separate species: R. peltatus (pond water-crowfoot) and R. trichophyllus (thread-leaved water-crowfoot).
Further in we found a wealth of damp wood loving plants: Viola riviniana (early dog-violet), Ajuga reptans (bugle), Fragaria vesca (wild strawberry) and Anemone nemorosa (wood anemone) and the promise of more to come. Cirsium palustre(marsh thistle), one obligingly in flower, and Campanula trachelium (nettle leaved bellflower), obstinately not in flower. We munched Glechoma hederacea (ground ivy) wondering how the beer might have tasted once. We sniffed the stems of Filipendula ulmaria (meadowsweet) and remembered clammy chest rubs from childhood days. Was that yellow flowers of creeping jenny growing across the rides? Whoops, no, 'Look at the leaves,' says Steve, 'They're pointed. Think P for pimpernel.' i.e. Lysimachia nemorum (yellow pimpernel). Suddenly, there was nothing but white at our feet: sheets and sheets of Allium ursinum (double ramsons). Sadly no-one spotted any herb Paris. Perhaps the voice of the nightingale distracted us too much.
On to Priestley Wood and Swingen Wood which adjoins it - both ancient 'semi natural' woodland owned by the Woodland Trust - but first an enchanting churchyard at Barking where ancient gravestones were sinking in a billowing sea of Anthriscus sylvestris (cow parsley), Geranium phaeum (dusky cranesbill) was jostling for space in a shady place on a bank. Spreading out in shorter grass was a patch of Ajuga reptans var. alba (a white bugle).
On the way to the wood, more instructive comparison: glossy leaved Fragaria vesca (wild strawberry) growing next to matt leaved Potentilla sterilis (barren strawberry) and, presently, Veronica montana (wood speedwell), Myosotis sylvatica (wood forget-me-not), Sanicula europaea (sanicle), and Conopodium majus (pignut). And, wow, a patch of Orchis mascula (early purple orchid) here, there and everywhere.
With uncanny knowledge, Steve briefed us on local names as we went along, and the culinary or 'medicinal' properties of plants. Thunder rumbled as he told us that the German for Cardamine pratensis (cuckooflower) is 'donnerblume'. It didn't snow, quite, but it certainly hailed as he pointed out Ornithogalum angustifolium (star of Bethlehem) in St. Mary's Churchyard. We resisted pulling up tubers of Orchis mascula to see if all that Dr Clarkson says is true. Despite this, Steve's introduction to the magic of Suffolk's ancient woods left us all thoroughly pleasured.
SUSAN MARTINEAU