Very often a day spent botanising with the Harrogate Naturalists can afterwards feel like having been on a week’s holiday. This was so for our day out in Wharfedale with some lovely warm sunny weather and plenty of wild flowers to see.
The plan for the day was to park at the Linton Falls car park in the Yorkshire dales and then to follow the river upstream to Grassington Bridge, cross the bridge and walk back down to Linton Falls footbridge. We could then continue along the road to visit Linton Church if time allowed.
The limestone walls surrounding the car park inevitably contained numerous limestone plants such as maidenhair spleenwort and rue-leaved saxifrage, so it was some time before we left there to begin walking along the road. We found that the roadside verges were full of summery flowers such as buttercups, foxgloves and sweet cicely with an abundance of butterflies along the way.
We entered the first field through a squeeze stile (comprising a narrow gap designed to allow humans to pass through but not livestock) and immediately came to a halt because there were so many plants to inspect. I believe that we recorded over 120 species in total on the day including grasses such as meadow foxtail, sweet vernal grass, false oat-grass and quaking grass and sedges such as glaucous sedge, hairy sedge and flat sedge. Flat sedge really and truly lives up to its name. (The full list of plants is attached.)
After passing the water turbine we walked along the road for a short way, over Grassington bridge and then back along the Dalesway, the long distance footpath running from Bowness in Windermere to Ilkley. The sight of children swimming in the river Wharfe confirmed that summer had well and truly arrived in May.
After returning to the car park, some of us took an extra detour to admire St Michael’s and All Angels parish church. This has a twelfth century north arcade and is listed as a Grade II building lying in a very beautiful area.
In summary, a wonderful day with lovely plants, people and weather. Thank you to Kerry for organising the event and to the members who turned up. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all those who provided lifts for others.
Sonia Starbuck
All photos by Nick Gaunt
