Coastal Botanical Finds in VC2 - mid April 2022

 More and more plants are coming into flower now, so many that I won't be able to keep up soon. The next few finds were all coastal, which is quite spectactular even without plants!

First venue was Par Sands near St Austell, all the way down to the south coast (about 18 miles).

This was the location of our nearest Range shop and I took the opportunity to have a look at Par sand dunes after shopping. I found some Sea Sandwort in flower rather early.

Honckenya peploides

Below is Sea mouse-ear which is usually in flower now. 

It normally has 4 petals but sometimes can have 5, so beware! These are tiny by the way.

Cerastium diffusum

When one comes across a garden plant in the wild, it's worth recording it. In this case, I found Darwin's Barberry bush naturalised in the dunes. The nearest previous record was in St Austell on a wall, several miles away. Recording these shows their spread over the years.

Berberis darwinii 

 I had to take my partner to hospital for treatment to a broken finger, and that was miles away near Hayle. On the way home, I took the scenic route and stopped off near Godrevy Head for a look around and some superb scenery.

Those little blue specks above in the grass are a special little plant. They are called Spring Squill and though fairly common around the cliffs in Cornwall are non existent in the South East. As such, I'm not used to seeing them. Beautiful little flowers. Each flower is no larger than a 20p coin.

Scilla verna 

One sunny day, we decided to take a short walk along the Camel Trail. This is a famous cycle track but its joint use with pedestrians and horse riders too. Here's some of the views along the way. It's made over a disused railway, the Wadebridge to Padstow line which incidentally, was the second ever passenger railway built in the world.

It was a bit of a pain dodging inconsiderate holidaymakers on hired bikes who didn't have a clue about biking and some rode straight at us expecting us to jump aside! Signs abounded stating pedestrians have priority, especially old codgers. OK, I made the last bit up.

However, the verges were full of wildflowers. Here is Little Robin, a rare plant nationally, but common around the old railway route. It's a lot smaller than Herb Robert and has yellow anthers. This one was high up on a wall, so I couldn't get any closer.

Geranium purpureum

Early Purple Orchids were numerous and just coming into bloom

Orchis mascula

The next plant doesn't look much, but it was a first for me. It's Mossy Stonecrop which starts off green and turns a striking red. Tiny flowers pop up in the axils but none were present yet. An exciting find.

Here's a habitat shot. You can see the plant just starting to turn the ground red to the left of the photo.

Crassula tillaea 

On another day we took a cliff walk around Trevose Bay, a pretty beach near Padstow. I couldn't miss Wild Carrot, now in flower. You can't reliably tell subspecies apart until they seed. One subspecies has seedheads that fold into a ball, the other stays flat. Rather than carry a wide angle lens, I now use my phone camera for wide angle shots. Not as good as a wide angle, but good enough!

Daucus carota

A stand of Sea Campion around a massive sinkhole. Called Round Hole, old OS maps show it's been here for a century! The sea eroded under the cliffs 50m inland causing a collapse. The tide comes in through a small tunnel and it fills with water. It was a good 100 feet down!

Silene uniflora

 Around the sandy car park were numerous plants of Wild Clary. I like it, but most people don't even notice it.

 

Salvia verbenaca 

I came across some amazing Kidney Vetch variants. The usual form is yellow with a red variant named and known. Here's the red form.

 Anthyllis vulneraria subsp vulneraria var coccinea

However, I kept finding another form with yellow wings and red standard and keel petals. They looked like "Wow!" For some reason (maybe they are new to science) they don't have a varietal name, so I've made one up.

Anthyllis vulneraria subsp vulneraria var heterochromia 

 heterochromia translated from the Greek, means "dual coloured" so I thought that was an apt name.

Here's the usual yellow form against another stunning view.

 I'll be returning to the coasts a lot soon as all the rarities that I've never seen will be coming into flower next month. Next up, I'm back to woodland, country lanes and of course at least one bog!

Take care

Dave

Follow me on Twitter: @botany2021

 

 

 

Down the Lanes of North Cornwall - Mid April 2022

 The botanical County Recorder for Cornwall asked if I would mind surveying sites for Greater Chickweed (Stellaria neglecta) within my area. It's not a very exciting plant to look at, but it was one I had not seen before, so I agreed to give it a go.

I duly made a list of areas where they had been previously found (often decades before) and started off in the evenings for an hour or two to look for them. It made sense to record everything else I saw too, as not many botanists go down these country lanes very often to record!

As such, this blog is a compilation of interesting, pretty or rare plants I found along the way. This included some stunning insects such as this Orange-tip butterfly resting on Greater Stitchwort.

 

  A Bloody nose Beetle (Timarcha tenebricosa)

 scuttling through the undergrowth, rather clumsily I might add.

 At this time of the year, many plants have leaves but no flowers. It's then a challenge to identify them from leaves alone. The one below, I kept seeing and worked out that it was Corn Parsley. Apparently this is common here in Cornwall. Common Valerian and Saw-wort are other examples I keep finding in leaf only.

Petroselinum segetum

 Common Ramping Fumitory is very common along the lanes and its large flowers (11-13mm) and loose heads of flowers make it stand out. There are sub species for it, but I no longer try and work these out given that the experts believe they are more than likely varietal rather than actual subspecies. Time will tell I suppose.

Fumaria muralis

It didn't take long to find Greater Chickweed, and over the next couple of weeks, I found hundreds of them. So far, I have found them in all places where they used to be except one. That's offset by me finding a new site too. So good news locally for this species anyway.

Here it is, not terribly impressive but about twice the size of the usual Common Chickweed found in the street or field edges. Hairy sepals and pedicels are named var. neglecta and glabrous ones are var. elizabethae.

 Stellaria neglecta var. elizabethae

 Grasses is an area of botany where I struggle. Having said that, I can identify all the obvious ones and they are coming into flower fast now. This one with a compact spike of flowers is Meadow Foxtail.

Alopecurus pratensis

 

In north Cornwall, rivers and streams, brooks and rivulets abound, so many areas are permanently wet. A peek over a small bridge revealed these wonderful Marsh Marigolds growing in complete shade under trees around one such wet and boggy area. Although these are sold in garden centres, they are actually a native plant and are widespread where conditions are right for them.

Caltha palustris

 Another wet loving species is Butterbur. Unfortunately, these ones I found at a strangely named place called Washaway, had gone to seed. I joked online that they were Cornish Lizard Orchids, which raised a few eyebrows. I might repeat that post on April 1st next year!

Petasites hybridus

 There was an abundance of common wildflowers, turning country lanes into a riot of colour, such as these Primroses.

Primula vulgaris

 Wild Garlic or Ramsons

Allium ursinum

Greater Stitchworts and Red Campion looking amazing.

Stellaria holostea and Silene dioica

 

 

Even Common Sorrel looked great and there were hundreds of them along the lanes.

Rumex acetosa

Several trees are now also flowering. Here is one I've seen online many times, but until now, never seen in the wild. It's the fruits of an Elm. Which species I don't know, its taxonomy is very complicated with clones and hybrids making it all far from easy, thus I record all Elms as:

Ulmus

Along one lane, I found at least 30m of these Pink Purslanes along both road verges. The only habitation near was a working farm, with no farmhouse or other garden near, so I don't know how they arrived here.

Here's one in amongst the Greater Stitchworts that line most rural roads now.

Claytonia sibirica

Moschatel or Town Hall Clock, is a common plant in the ancient woodlands of Kent, but here in Cornwall, it is very rare, so I was both pleased and surprised to find a patch in flower by a road verge under planted Beech trees. I suspect they came with the trees inadvertantly when the trees were planted.

Adoxa moschatellina

You see some unusual things too, such as this post box with its knitted Easter themed hat on and in another village was a red phone box full of books to read and swap for free. All signs of a good community spirit, sadly lacking elsewhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shining Cranesbill, abundant on verges, but mostly near villages or towns.

Geranium lucidum

A dried up muddy pudlle had Ivy leaved Water Crowfoot growing in it. Blotchy leaves shaped rather like Ivy and tiny flowers identified them.

Ranunculus hederaceus

Something that is odd is that Cornwall has retained its population of Bluebells despite losing most of its woodland. The species easily jumped onto Cornish walls (made of earth and stone) and colonised them along with new woodland too. So it great to find some large stands of them here too.

Hyacinthoides non-scripta

 Several areas near me are home to Climbing Corydalis. I'd only ever seen this twice before, once at Dungeness and the other at Hothfield Heath,, both in Kent. But the flora is different here and this plant is pretty much all over the place here.

Ceratocapnos claviculata

 There's always plenty of non native plants to record too, especially near habitation. This is an escaped Wallflower.

Sisymbrium cheiri

 I have found several Early Purple Orchids from their rosettes alone, but now they are coming into flower. They seem to be mostly small and unassuming and are loathe to open their flowers while the cold weather persists. They had better hurry up though, as the council mowers are already out and about in force. These ones escaped being mowed by about one foot!

Orchis mascula

 It's now the time of the year when Lesser Celandines can be split into subspecies. As they age, subspecies fertilis produces lots of flowers among leaves; subspecies verna however, has none or few weedy looking flowers and reproduces by means of bulbils that form at the base of the leaves, as shown below. Have a rummage through the leaves and you'll find them. They generally are found in very shady areas.

Ficaria verna subspecies verna

 These are the sort of lanes I have walked, no footpaths, but then virtually no traffic. If you happen to meet anyone they all chat and are friendly and genuinely interested in what I am doing. It's so refereshing after living in the South East where most people are paranoid about crime and immediately think I'm up to no good.

So, I have had a good time exploring the lanes looking for this little plant and found lots to keep me interested. I hope you found it interesting too, though I apologise for it being a bit long. There was so much, I left out many finds too!

Stellaria neglecta var. neglecta

Take care

Dave

 

The Hunt for Sand Crocus in Cornwall 08/04/22

 

 Sand Crocus is a very rare native plant, only found at Dawlish Warren, Devon and on a couple of rocky outcrops near Polruan, Cornwall, on mainland UK. Online photos of some Dawlish plants now being in flower led me to plan a trip to see them. Billy, a young botanist from Bodmin joined me and we set off to see them.

One issue was that the flowers are very small and only open in bright sun. As we left  it started raining and it was quite cold too, so would they be open today? I hoped the sunny spells bewteen the showers would be enough for them to be visible at least, but I wasn't very optimistic.

We had also decided to record all species we could find in the monad after being prompted by the County Recorder to do so. All recording is now worthwhile as from 2020 we are in a new 20 year date class. As such, all records after 2020 are in effect new and valuable to show continuity of species in that area.

Having decided to record everything we could, it became apparent that, like most botanists, it would take some time to get out of the car park as it was full of species. This one really caught our eye.

It's White Ramping Fumitory, but a rare form that turns white to almost crimson as the flowers age and are pollinated. 

Fumaria capreolata subspecies capreolata forma speciosa

Below: look at how crimson the flowers have turned on this one, beautiful!

After recording lots of species, we arrived at the first Sand Crocus site. What a view!

The Sand Crocuses grow on the very thin soils over these granite outcrops to avoid competition from more robust species. It was a pretty cold Easterly breeze and the sun was more in than out. Where were they?

 It was Billy who raised a yell as he found the first one.

He'd found one! Barely open in the poor conditions.

We then scanned the area and found lots more, over 40 in fact!

There was enough sun out after all.

Romulea columnae

 

These were a bit more open and easier to see.

A habitat photo. Note the foreboding sky! In fact, it hailed on us too.

 

At the second place for these (another rocky outcrop nearby) we only found 2 plants in flower, which wasn't so good. However, there may have been a lot more plants there but they were pretty much invisible without an open flower. Here's me (looking very old) having a closer look.

Nearby was an interesting Dandelion with a small capitula and small dissected leaves making it a Section Erythrosperma species. Handily, I found lots of these last year in Kent and had them verified by the BSBI referee, so hopefully, I can identify a few of them now with some confidence.

Taraxacum lacistophyllum

The final plant of note from here was a plant I usually find (though rarely) in arable fields. There was a stand of Field Woundwort growing well in a rabbit scrape. It needs disturbance to germinate and here, rabbits provided it.

Stachys arvensis

As there was plenty of time left in the day, we decided to pay a visit to Lantic Bay nearby. This is a shellgrit and shingle beach surrounded by high cliffs with a long walk down (and back up 120m in fact). The flora is somewhat different to usual as the shellgrit allowed for more calcareous plants to grow here.

 On the way down the cliff, we came across a lot of rosettes of Early Purple Orchids, but sadly, if any were to flower, it was too early for them yet. Look at the markings on this one!

Orchis mascula 

Here'a a view from halfway down the cliff to the beach

However, the top of the beach was sparsely vegetated and contained some nice plants such as Sea Spurge and Sea Radish as shown below.

Raphanus raphanistrum subspecies maritimum

 I found this bug on vegetation on the beach.

https://www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/Coreidae/enoplops_scapha.html says about this bug -

"A large and distinctive dark grey squashbug with cream markings on the connexivum. Early instar larvae have very spiny antennae and a green abdomen. Later instars are superficially similar to the much commoner Coreus marginatus (Dock Bug) but the abdominal tergites are more pointed.

A local species which is confined to coastal cliffs and sand dunes between Kent and north Wales, with outlying populations on the north Yorkshire coast. The foodplants are various Asteraceae".

Enoplops scapha - Boat Bug

At the top of the beach was a small cave with fresh water dripping down from the roof. Growing about this was the largest and most impressive Maidenhair Fern I had yet seen. It must have been 3 feet long hanging down from the roof.

Adiantum capillus-veneris

Before the long climb back up the cliff, we had a sit down on a log. Whilst there I spotted another delicate Dandelion. This one turned out to be Taraxacum oxonianum

 

The last flower I photographed here was a stand of Sea Rocket. Its seeds wash up on the highest of tides and start off the next generation of plants. They are quite common around the coasts.

Cakile maritima

The vegetated beach at Lantic Bay. It was a long way back up again!

So ended a great day out. Billy was great to be around and it was good to talk botany with another person interested in the subject. We found the Sand Crocus and overall, the sites were in good condition so they should be around in the future too.

I hope you liked this blog, take care.

Dave

Follow me on Twitter - @botany2021