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Botany Day at Ashberry
Tue 2nd Jun, 2015
Our Bank Holiday Monday Botany Day in partnership with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust was a real treat. The group met at the Trust’s lovely Ashberry Nature Reserve where we spent the morning exploring the reserve’s wet pasture, riverside and mire in the morning and were thrilled to come across uncommon species such as Bird’s-eye Primrose and Globeflower!
Bird's-eye Primrose © Richard Baines
Globeflower © Richard Baines
Marsh Valerian, Butterwort, Milkwort, Crosswort and Early Purple Orchid were also flowering while Meadowsweet and Common Spotted Orchid had yet to come out.
Marsh Valerian © Richard Baines
Butterwort © Richard Baines
The roadside banks, which we looked at after our lunch break, yielded a few surprises too. A broad sash of wild Lily of the Valley entranced our clients while fascinating grasses such as Wood Melick grew alongside Sanicle, Woodruff, Wild Marjoram, Hairy and Slender St John’s-wort and Wild and Barren Strawberry.
Sanicle © Richard Baines
In the afternoon we searched Ashberry’s woods for botanical gems. Swathes of Bluebells and Ramsons made a spectacular backdrop for Wood Speedwell, Yellow Pimpernel and Wood Sedge.
Wood Speedwell © Richard Baines
Yellow Pimpernel © Richard Baines
Figwort, Common Twayblade and Greater Bird’s-foot Trefoil were not yet in flower, but, amid the purple and ochre bonnets of Water Avens and their relatives, Wood Avens, a cross between the two had unfolded a beautiful and frilly yellow blossom.
Wood x Water Avens © Richard Baines
Nor were flowers and grasses the only highlights: we saw Marsh Tit, Grey Wagtail and Tawny Owl and a torpid Orange-tip butterfly, while other insects included Brown Silver-Line, Silver-ground Carpet and Nettle-tap moths, a green shield bug, longhorn beetles, sawflies and a Giant Cranefly.
At the end of the day we counted up all the plants we’d seen which are regarded as ‘ancient woodland indicators’. The total was no fewer than 30 species, proving beyond any shadow of a doubt that Ashberry is indeed a richly diverse ancient woodland.
The group at Ashberry © Richard Baines