This blog follows on from the first half of June from my last blog, however, I will return to Pendennis Point in Falmouth from that blog.
Whilst scanning the very short turf for clovers, I noticed some small and very hairy Common Birdsfoot Trefoil with single, mostly orange flowers. Nearby was the usual form which is almost hairless and with clusters of up to 5, usually bright yellow flowers. I took some photos and sent them to the BSBI Lotus referee, who kindly took the time to compare them to the herbarium specimens that were used to give the variant its name. It was a match, so below is the Hairy variant of Common Birdsfoot Trefoil, a first for me.
Lotus corniculatus var. hirsutus
I had a short visit to Par Sands and I photographed some of the interesting plants there, but nothing was a new record. Starting off with one of the last remaining Southern Marsh Orchids, most now in seed.
Dactylorhiza praetermissa
Intermediate (Hybrid) Evening Primrose
Oenothera x fallax
Yellow Bartsia doing well in a sandy, damp meadow behind the dunes.
Parentucelia viscosa
A Spotted Longhorn Beetle on an umbellifer.
Rutpela maculata
A nice shot of Bittersweet showing the flower fully including the little ring of white circles at the flower's base.
Solanum dulcamara
And finally some Haresfoot Clover, one of the last clovers to flower.
Trifolium arvensis
A couple of days later we went to Trevone beach and whilst the family went on the beach, I walked the sandy beach car park. There was plenty of interest growing there.
Lucerne grew on the car park's sandy verges.
Medicago sativa subsp sativa
The peculiar looking structure of Fiddle Dock was scattered around.
Rumex pulcher
It was in flower.
Greek Sea-spurrey was still thriving in the car park where the cars actually drive over them, thus eliminating any competition from other plants.
Spergularia bocconei
They are a messy loooking, glandular plant, so sand particles stick to them easily. The flowers are minute.
Here's a view from standing height of a patch.
Common Poppy on the road verges.
Papaver rhoeas
In the third week of June I recorded some assorted monads in the north east of Cornwall. Here's what I found of interest there.
A stand of at least 50 Babington's Leek by a popular car park at Widemouth Bay.
Allium ampeloprasum var. babingtonii
Common Dodder coming into flower, parasitising Gorse.
Cuscuta epithymum
Lots of Smith's Pepperwort was found, including a colony over a few metres long along a path.
Lepidium heterophyllum
Pale Flax on a rural track verge.
Linum bienne
Red Bartsia now in flower in good numbers in places.
Odontites vernus
Wild Madder was putting on the best display in many years, with huge cushions of flowers hanging heavy in the pathside hedgerows.
Rubia peregrina
Some Zig Zag Clover put in an appearance on a road verge. Subtly different from Red Clover with no subtending leaves; leaves narrow, usually without chevrons and softy hairy and the flowers being an intense shade of deep pink. The stipules are different too.
Trifolium medium
Some Portland Spurge found on a coastal cliff, north of Bude.
Euphorbia portlandica
Wild Thyme was common in suitable cliff habitat. It is a mat forming perennial that roots at the nodes forming large colonies or mats, easily visible when in flower.
Thymus drucei
Nearby to these, I found some rather different Thyme that I believed could be Large Thyme; it is very rare in Cornwall and it would be an important find if verified. The plants were well spaced out and much taller than the usual form as you can see below.
On my initial examination there appeared to be lines of hairs running down the four corners of the stem, suggesting this might be Large Thyme.
I took some samples home to be sure. Unfortunately, when I looked at them under higher magnification, there were short hairs on two opposite stem surfaces and the no hairs on the stem corners on the lower stem. As such, this was just an as yet un-named variant of Wild Thyme. But keep on looking! If a plant doesn't look quite right, always dig a bit deeper.
I finished the day at Bude where I thought I would see if I could find any Bee Orchids at a known site.
Fortunately, I did find some and two were still relatively fresh, the rest were in seed.
Ophrys apifera
These are the first I've seen in Cornwall in good condition. I did find some rosettes at a new site near Truro and when I went back in June to see them, I found a scruffy looking flower about to fall off the stem where the plant had been recently mowed. They were mowed off again this year too there.
Here's another Bee Orchid from Bude. This one has self pollinated and lost its red colouring as it aged.
Nearby were around 50 Pyramidal Orchids; some were the usual size, but many were no bigger than a flower head of a Red Clover plant, no doubt due to the dry, hot weather that had just started to build. Here's one from Bude.
Anacamptis pyramidalis
And some from Trevone from my earlier trip, posted here rather than repeat a plant species in the same blog.
By the second to last week of June, England was in the grip of a heatwave with record breaking day and night-time temperatures for the month. Even in Cornwall, we had several days running where the temperature was in the low 30s Celsius. As such, I didn't go out much while the heat lasted, but I did manage an evening trip to Rosenannon Downs. Here's some plants of interest I found there.
I had hoped to re-find the hybrid between Heath Spotted and Heath Fragrant Orchids, but the habitat where I found them in 2022 had been smothered by Gorse and no orchids could grow there now.
I did find both parents still flowering close together, though only a few were left, with most now in seed, so I imagine more hybrids will eventually turn up.
Heath Fragrant Orchid
Gymnadenia borealis
One of the prettier Heath Spotted Orchids
Dactylorhiza maculata
Bog Asphodel was now flowering in good numbers in the wetter parts of the Downs.
Narthecium ossifragum
Ornithopus perpusillus
A solitary Chamomile was flowering amongst them. You can see a tiny Birdsfoot flower at the bottom left of the Chamomile plant. The other plant is a gone to seed Lesser Trefoil (Trifolium dubium).
Chaemomelum nobile
Bell Heather putting on a fine display
Erica cinerea
Its close relative, Cross-leaved Heath was also flowering, usually bright pink, but these were almost completely white.
Erica tetralix
Marsh Bedstraw was flowering in damp places with Royal Fern and Lesser Spearwort amongst other species I found.
Galium palustre
Viviparous Bulbous Rush were also in the damp areas. This is where the seeds germinate and start to grow, whilst still attached to the parent plant. I've not seen it in dry areas.
Juncus bulbosus
Floating Club-rush in a dried up pool.
Eleogiton fluitans
At the month's end I recorded a couple of monads around the Whitsand Bay area in south east Cornwall which produced some nice plants and loads of butterflies.
Comma - Polygonia c-album
Marbled White - Melanargia galathea
Wild Onion was in patches along the coast path and road verges.
Allium vineale
The much larger flowers of inland Betony compared to the dwarf coastal form. This one from a road verge.
Betonica officinalis
Teucrium scorodonia
Greater Scabious made a nice change from the usual Common Knapweeds.
Centaurea scabiosa
Chicory was in a fallow field, probably a crop relict as it was a salad leaf subspecies.
Cichorium intybus subsp. intybus
On a rural road junction I found two different cultivated types of Sweet William, probably from dumped material, but sometimes people sow seeds in the wild, so it remains "origin unknown".
Dianthus barbatus
There are lots of Cranesbills that I find on every trip, but it was unusual to find a Small-flowered Cranesbill on a sandy road verge.
Geranium pusillum
In a village, Reflexed Stonecrop was one of many species of garden escaped plants. It had self seeded onto pavements and walls. Here it is on top of a 6 foot wall.
Petrosedum rupestre
Down in the gutter grew Procumbent Yellow Sorrel, the variant with purple leaves.
Oxalis corniculata var atropurpurea
I finished off the day with a visit to Millbrook, where I re-visited the Olympic St. John's-wort that I found atop a car park wall last year in seed. As it was a new species found in the wild for Cornwall I thought it would be nice to return and get some photos of it in flower, so here it is.
