November Wildflower Walk

Wednesday, November 29th 2017

Despite the icy wind and rain that sometimes turned to sleet, five volunteers braved the elements to do the monthly wildflower walk, to identify the number of species in flower at the end of each month. Yesterday, it was becoming clear that the Gorse on the moorland was flowering in ever greater profusion, the bright yellow flowers standing out against the grey skies and dark green of the rest of the plant.

Today, a further ten species were found in flower. Perhaps not surprisingly, many of these were in the more sheltered areas of the Reserve. The species found were Gorse, Common Ragwort, Common Catsear, Ivy, Creeping Buttercup, Herb Robert, Marsh Thistle, Daisy, Primrose and Red Campion. The group returned to the Field Centre to warm up having carried out the survey in most parts of the Reserve. Their efforts in such bad weather are very much appreciated.

During the afternoon, Christine and Pauline then settled to another important task - updating the species list for the Reserve. This supports one of the three key principles for Foxglove Covert, “to encourage and facilitate research for advancement of knowledge in the natural sciences and local biodiversity”.

The work this afternoon will do this, but it is the final part in work by a team of volunteers who identify and record the very large range of species found on the Reserve, so the hours of work this afternoon is very much the tip of the iceberg for all that has gone on to achieve this.

Given the large amounts of rain over the last few days, it was highly likely that the work on the dam in Risedale Beck last week might have been undone as the increased water volume put increased pressure on the rocks. The dam has coped admirably and is still doing its job of helping divert a supply of water to one of the ponds to the side of the beck.

It was also a chance to see some of the flowers identified earlier in the day, including Daisy and Red Campion, and, as darkness was falling, watch both Grey Wagtail and Dipper in action.

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