English Botanical News by Kay McDowell

English Botanical News

Kay McDowell joint VCR 63 (south & west Yorkshire) recorder

Finding Dryopteris aemula (hay-scented buckler-fern) was a personal highlight of 2020. It was our first VC 63 outing of the year and we’d decided to record on Wessenden Moor, a previously unrecorded area between Holmfirth and Manchester. It’s an unrecorded area partly because of its reputation of having only 5 plant species per km square. A small group of four of us met at Marsden Moor car park on Saturday 26th September 2020. An exposed site, there was cold wind blowing straight across us at the top of the Moor, which is situated over 400 m above sea level.

After a morning’s plant hunting, we looked for a sheltered place to have lunch. Finding a few rocks to perch next on, we ate our sandwiches and looked at the surrounding vegetation. I had noticed an interesting looking buckler-fern when we sat down so I crawled up to get a closer look with Pete. Louise thought it looked interesting too and examined the scales and suggested hay-scented buckler-fern. The scales have a darkened stripe across where the scale is attached to the stipe. Louise recognized this feature whilst looking at ferns on walking trips in Scotland. I looked at the pinnules which had a crinkly look and were distinctly curled up at the edges, a feature I’d seen whilst on the Fern Guide course in 2019 at Blencathra Field Studies Centre in the Lake District. I couldn’t believe my eyes! I had dreamed of being a plant hunter since I was young. We didn’t expect to see this species in VC 63. A couple of days later Mike Canaway, a Yorkshire Fern Group and Northwest Fern Group member confirmed our identification. We discovered it was the first record for the Peak District National Park, VC 63, Derbyshire and Cheshire.

Later that day on top of the moor I found a small Osmunda regalis (royal fern). Royal ferns have unexpectedly been found in the Dark Peak moorlands recently but nobody really knows why. It may be due to reduced sheep-grazing pressure.

Another good find was spotted by Bradford Botany Group member Alan Schofield. He discovered at least a hundred Hypopitys monotropa (Yellow Bird’s-nest) at a new site in the Southern Washlands Nature Reserve near Wakefield in July. We formed a small group of five and went to see the pale yellow saprophytic perennials which are usually found on leaf litter in woods. We found the site which was a mosquito-infested low-lying area. The plants were about 20cm in height with their flowers hanging to one side and were under birch and willow scrub. We wondered whether the mosquitoes were feeding on the dead bodies of botanists attempting to photograph the plants.

A new site in VC 63 for Nepeta cataria (cat-mint) was found by Paul and Joyce Simmons whilst out exploring new footpaths near Kirk Smeaton near Pontefract in early August. An archaeophyte found on dry calcareous soils, the grey-white pubescent perennial was found in a hedge bottom.