For almost the first three weeks of August, the heatwave continued along with the ever worsening drought. Road verges and cliff tops were brown, with everything looking dead; pretty much like an average late summer in Kent then! However, I had got used to the greenery all year round in Cornwall, so it came as a bit of a shock when everything started dying off; docks wilting, wall ferns shrivelled up and even trees began to have their leaves curl and turn to autumn colours early. There was no rain at all until about the 18th and that was light and scattered. Hopefully from from September onwards, it will stay wet and cool!
Given this, I tried to pick areas to go where there would be some water or dampness, so there may be plant species here that I featured in recent blogs too.
At the beginning of the month, I went to a bog close to where Bog Orchids had been recorded on the Bodmin Moor. I didn't go to where I knew they would be, but to other parts of the bog in different monads, hoping to record them elsewhere too. However, despite an extensive search I didn't find any. That's not to say they weren't there, as it is notoriously difficult to spot these tiny green flower spikes in typical bog flora. However, here is a selection of the bog plants I did find there.
The aquatic form of Floating Club-rush in a bog stream. I usually see this in dried out or damp areas. It keeps its shape when you take a piece out of the water; whereas the branches of the aquatic form of Bulbous Rush (Juncus bulbosus) fold flat to the stem as you take it out of the water.
Eleogitan fluitans
Heather was beginning to flower, but the plants were only a few inches tall due to extensive grazing.
Calluna vulgaris
Cross-leaved Heath from the drier areas, totally unaffected by drought.
Erica tetralix
Marsh St. John's-wort was flowering plentifully in damp areas.
Hypericum elodes
One of the last Bog Asphodels of the season still flowering.
Narthecium ossifragum
In June at another bog on the moor, I found Marsh Lousewort for the first time (for me) in Cornwall and recorded less than a dozen plants over a wide area. Here, at this venue though, I found well over 100 of them, mostly in seed, but a few still with flowers.
Pedicularis palustris
A Beautiful Demoiselle damselfly by the stream from the first photo in this blog. Interestingly, there were a lot of dragonflies here too, and along the stream banks were just the wings of beautiful demoiselles that had been caught and eaten by them! Clearly the wings are not edible.
Calopteryx virgo
My next outing was a short one with the family, but to Par Sands. I didn't expect to find much there in the free draining sand given the drought conditions, but I was (as usual) quite wrong! The strand line had several interesting plants including quite a lot of Frosted Orache.
Atriplex laciniata
And huge drifts of flowering Prickly Saltwort, a rare plant in much of the UK.
Salsola kali
The duo of Sea Bindweed (not flowering) and Sea Spurge (flowering) was present as always there.
Euphorbia paralias
The dominant Evening Primrose here seemed to be the hybrid between Large-flowered and Common which has a mix of characters of both parents. The BSBI handbook is rather complex for these species as it splits the plants into lots of species, subspecies and forms, but I prefer to use Stace which lumps them together rather than splitting them into numerous species. This hybird is easy to identify, as no other Evening Primrose has the combination of the stigmas and stamens being the same length with some red glandular pustules on the stem and some red colouring on the sepals.
Oenothera x fallax
Par Sands is a good place to see Sea Knotgrass too. I've seen it there every year since I moved here 5 years ago. Note the large flowers (for a knotgrass) and the curled under leaves.
Polygonum maritimum
Par Sands is also the only place in Cornwall where I have come across a lot of Great Lettuce plants. Relatively common in the south east of England, but not so much in the west country. Some were over six feet tall. When not shrivelled up by drought, the basal leaves usually have an obvious red central vein which Prickly Lettuce (Lactuca serriola) doesn't have. The leaves of the latter species also turn throughout the day to face the sun, whereas Great Lettuce leaves stay put.
Lactuca virosa
It is always a bit odd seeing Bittersweet flowering on a beach, but it seemed quite at home near the high tide mark at Par.
Solanum dulcamara
Given the drought conditions, I was very surprised to find that the Sea Daffodils looked better than they had done in previous years; or perhaps I just saw them at peak flowering time this year. I had heard that someone scattered seeds here some years ago having brought them back from France where they are native and relatively common.
There is another patch at Marazion which could well have arrived naturally as they are a lot closer to the storm high tide line than those at Par. This species has floating seeds and there seems to be no reason why seeds couldn't float across on a southerly wind from Brittany. The milder climate of recent years could also assist in their survival through the winter months too.
Pancratium maritimum
On the 9th August the Cornwall Botany Group had a field trip to Creney Farm and Redmoor reserves near Lostwithiel. It was interesting to see what had changed since we visited it a couple of years previously and I am pleased to say that many wild plants are making a comeback there under the new management of the Cornwall Wildlife Trust. The photo below shows some of the new scrapes dug into what was a pasture field. These held many interesting species and also created habitat for many insects and other creatures too.
Some of the plants in flower here were:
Angelica - Angelica sylvestris
A single Meadowsweet (the rest in seed or burned off from drought).
Filipendula ulmaria
Narrow-leaved Hawkweed - Hieracium umbellatum
Trailing St. John's-wort - Hypericum humifusum
Square-stalked St. John's-wort - Hypericum tetrapterum
As always on these field trips, we had our resident entomologist who identified these bugs for us.
Green Tortoise Beetle - Cassida viridis
Mint Leaf Beetle Chrysolina herbacea
Some of the group admiring a small leaky beaver dam, the species having been recently re-introduced to the area and which had definitely trapped a lot of water that would otherwise have been lost downstream without them.
The drought caused the cancellation of a couple of field trips including ones to Sandymouth and another to the Godrevy Head area as both areas would have had a frazzled flora. Hopefully, next year will be a more average year with a mixture of sun and rain and not all one or the other. As a result of the canellations, on the 16th August, I did go on a field trip to culm grassland in North Devon and found some nice species in flower there (though I failed to find the previously recorded Whorled Caraway - Trocdaris verticillata). Given the lack of recording in August in Cornwall due to the drought, I thought I would include this trip here too.
Sneezewort, frequent in places.
Achillea ptarmica
Hundreds of flowering Devil's Bit Scabious.
Succisa pratensis
Growing close to lots of Common Knapweed were some that looked very different. The leaves were narrower and the capitula were thin and weedy looking in comparison. A closer look revealed them to be Slender Knapweed; the capitulum measuring 11mm or less (about the width of my little fingernail) and the comb like bracts not overlapping to reveal the green underbody of the ovaries. In hindsight, I should have picked a Common Knapweed and taken a photo of the two together, something for me to do next time I find this species perhaps.
Centaurea debauxii
On the way home I recorded Bridgerule, a small village spanning the River Tamar, so as far as botanical recording went, half in East Cornwall (VC2) and half in North Devon (VC4).
On some wasteground that had clearly been abandoned for several years, I found some Oval Sedge.
Carex leporina
Nearby were a few Umbrella plants, clearly self seeded in the waste areas.
Cyperus eragrostis
Wild Teasel with its deep tap roots were unbothered by the drought. I had recently read that this species holds water in its leaves (historically called Venus' basin) in which insects drown and their nutrients are absorbed into the plant, increasing its fertility Here's a quote from Google on this subject:
" A landmark study published on PMC proved that adding dead insects to these leaf pools significantly increased the plant's seed production. This means teasels clearly benefit from and absorb the nutrients of the decaying bugs."
The link "PMC" above takes you to https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3060873/ which has an abstract of the research.
Dipsacus fullonum
A species I usually see in coastal areas is the Duke of Argyll's Teaplant, however, I found a bush naturalised in Bridgerule in flower. Goji berries come from this plant.
Lycium barbarum
A surprise find on the Devon side of the river was a Meadow-rue, possibly Lesser Meadow-rue, which is native on limestone outcrops such as at Berry Head. However, this was clearly a garden escape and was close to habitation from whence it likely originated and the leaflets don't quite match the native plant. Sadly, the flowers were long gone leaving the empty seed pods. If you happen to find a Meadow-rue, the leaves are very distinctive as you can see below. I had previously found one in Cornwall before and again it was a garden escape.
Thalictrum sp.
Past mid August and I visited St. Winnow and Lostwithiel to update records; here's a selection of the plants I found.
Sea Purslane can be very common in tidal estuaries all over the UK forming extensive mats of plants over the salt marsh; but in Cornwall, it is mostly found as solitary plants or a few clumps here and there (apart from the River Camel near Wadebridge where it is found in dense stands). Here on the Fowey estuary, I found a solitary plant. It's the light grey plant on the edge of the salt marsh grass.
Atriplex portulacoides
It was in flower too. How many of you have ever looked really closely at an Atriplex flower (as opposed to seeding bracteoles)? I think they're quite colourful as flowers without petals go!
Sea Arrowgrass, Common Salt marsh Grass, Greater and Lesser Sea-spurries and Sea Milkwort were all present, but in small numbers on a very small area of salt marsh. The majority of the available habitat was unsuitable for these plants as they were completely overshadowed by trees (oak and sycamore mainly). Once out of the shadows of the trees, it was thick estuarine mud where nothing grew.
Sea Plantain was conspicuous as it was in flower too, but not very numerous along the estuary.
Plantago maritima
The final salt marsh plant was Sea Aster flowering on the same small area of salt marsh.
Tripolium pannonicum
Near St. Winnow church, some clumps of Musk Mallow were flowering.
Malva moschata
Atlantic Ivy had come into flower and was alive with all types of bees and hover flies, I think this is an Eristalis hoverfly species.
Hedera hibernica
A naturalised Feverfew near the church had a few flowers out in spite of drought.
Tanacetum parthenium
In Lostwithiel, I found lots of garden escapes self seeded or naturalised on pavements and road verges, though this clump of native Marsh Cudweed was so bushy I got all excited thinking it might be Annual Knawel, until I got down low to investigate more closely!
Gnaphalium uliginosum
Himalayan Honeysuckle was seen in a few places including growing out of a pavement wall. It has become commonly naturalised over much of the UK now. I'm not sure why its name is formosa as that is the former name of Taiwan and is not near the Himalayas at all. Clearly, named from Taiwan, but the common name seems to have been mis-matched from its geography.
Leycesteria formosa
But perhaps the most intriguing find was two mature plants in seed growing at the base of a wall out of the pavement cracks, which looked like some sort of Iris species. Above it were only coloured Calluna species, so it was unclear where they originated from.
Fortunately, I took a close up of the seed head. Though it was empty of seeds, there was a pale chaffy collar to each whorl up the stem which showed this to be Pale Yellow-eyed Grass. Commonly grown in gardens and sometimes in amenity plantings too. It's the first time I've found one naturalised, though I've seen planted ones in numerous parks and gardens.
Sisyrinchium striatum
Finally from this day's recording, I photographed some fruits of Black Bryony which intertwine with other plants in the hedgerows.
Tamus communis
In the last week of August, the heat and drought broke properly, with some decent periods of rain and cooler weather. It even filled up my large garden water butt which had been empty for 2 months! Hopefully at least some plants will respond to water seeping down through the soil which had been baked for over two months.
Pavements are a good habitat in dry times as moisture that seeps under the paving slabs can't evaporate. Perhaps this is why we find so many garden plants naturalising in such places, like this Garden Petunia on one of the main shopping streets in Bude. There were no hanging baskets or gardens close by and this was the third such record for Bude alone, so clearly they can self seed. Perhaps in time, they will over winter and fully naturalise?
Petunia x hybrida
At the end of the month there was a Cornwall Botany Group field trip to a farm near Land's End that had been managed for nature for decades. I noticed that generally, the whole area was greener than further east, so I suspect the drought wasn't as severe here.
Lots of species were found and a selection of them follows:
Water Plantain grew in a pond and it was in flower. Unfortunately, the Lesser Water Plantain was absent, though previously recorded from here.
Alisma plantago-aquatica
Wavy-leaved St. John's-wort was present too with its beautifully marked crimson streaks on the petals.
Hypericum undulatum
Gypsywort - Lycopus europeaus
But the star find was Six-stamened Waterwort, a tiny plant I had been searching for the last 2 years and failed to find. It was growing in abundance in the dried out parts of the pond and was in flower too, though they measured only about 2-3mm across! Here's a selection of photos of it.
Elatine hexandra
Here's what it looked like from a standing height.
Its aquatic form, which was also plentiful in the pond looks very different, see below. This was a new record for the pond, which was about 30 years old, so I assume that birds brought it here on their feet or in their droppings.
After the field trip, I took a look around the area between there and Hayle as it isn't often I go to the far south west of the county. Following a tip from a fellow botany group member, I went to a playing field not far from Land's End and found a handful of Autumn Ladies Tresses in flower on the pitch.
Spiranthes spiralis
On a different recreation ground with acidic soil, I found that the pitches were completely covered with Chamomile, with hardly any grasses or other plants making up the "grass" of the pitch with lots of tiny flowers less than an inch tall due to constant mowing. There must have been thousands of plants. Some youths turned up and practised rugby and even at 50 yards away, I could smell the Chamomile as it bruised from their game. Quite incredible and impossible to capture in a photo, so here's one of the bigger plants, protected from mowing by a fence post nearby.
No comments:
Post a Comment
All comments are moderated before publication, so please don't bother spamming me, thank you. Genuine comments most welcome.