Barden to Strid Wood

Saturday 14th April 2018

Leader: Nicky Vernon

After the recent gloomy weather, it was brilliant to see the sun breaking through as 18 members gathered at Barden Bridge on the Wharfe on Saturday. We took the right bank of the river and immediately got stuck into the plants, finding a rather prominent colony of Alternate-leaved Golden-saxifrage, growing with the more common opposite-leaved species. Wood Anemones caught the eye here too. Although there would be 130 species on the day, very few were in flower and it was a great chance to use our vegetative ID skills; Nicky’s local knowledge helped, of course.

Moving along through the wood, there were invasive colonies of Lesser Pond-sedge and polypodies growing epiphytically on the trees, indicating a truly wet environment. Bruce was later able to identify both the Common and Intermediate Polypody. There were still no leaves on the trees, giving the chance of seeing the fleeting flowers of Wych Elm, along with hazel and alder catkins. Even the poplars were only just starting to flower, perhaps three weeks late. On the ground, both the spotted and unspotted (var. immaculatum) leaves of Lords-and-Ladies were in evidence, while the leaves and seed heads of the Snowdrop reminded us that time was marching on. Ominously, the cotyledons of Indian balsam could also be seen, albeit in small numbers.

On the more open stretches of riverbank, we spotted the leaves of a monkeyflower; opinion has it that all the plants are now hybridized, although they are certainly not sterile. We found the leaves of Bugle and Smooth Lady’s-mantle; Giant Bellflower stood a couple of inches tall! The grasses were only just beginning to grow but the yellowish leaves and dried culms (from last year) of the False Brome were unmistakable.

We had lunch in the woods on a fallen log where the path from the car park on the B6160 comes in. Nearby stood Lawson’s Cypress and Giant Fir, with the occasional Douglas Fir and Yew also thrown into the mainly deciduous woodland. The floor was carpeted with Ramsons (wild garlic) and many tales of foraging were told, although I wasn’t tempted to include the fresh leaves in my cheese and pickle sandwich! Wood-sorrel and Common Bistort, the latter used in dock pudding, were also found in the woods. After lunch, we looked around the Strid falls area, where there were few plants of interest, before continuing our walk downstream.

We reached one of our main objectives in the Yellow Star-of-Bethlehem and spent some time carefully picking our way around the plants and between the riverside boulders where they grew, taking pictures. Eventually, we turned and headed back the way we had come. You often spot new things when you do this and we came upon a Stinking Hellebore, which Jesse had found. Nearby was a wild Daffodil, perhaps a bulb washed downstream from the large colonies seen on the woodland slopes earlier. Inevitably, there were a few cultivars dotted around as well.

Back in the woods, it was nice to see significant colonies of Hairy Wood-rush in flower, a welcome relief from the less elegant (in my opinion) and more common Great Wood-rush. In several places, we found the wintergreen fronds of Hard Shield-fern, although many of the plants seemed to show an intermediate habit, as if they were hybrids with the Soft Shield-fern. Our discussions on the subject led to no firm conclusions. We found a solitary example of the attractive Few-flowered Garlic, an introduction which someone said could be very invasive in the right circumstances.

When we got back to the rather ornate aqueduct, we crossed to the other side of the river for the final stretch back to the cars. In the open grassland, we found the tufts of Meadow Oat-grass, identified by the narrow glaucous leaf-blades with the characteristic ‘tramline’ down the middle. The sun was quite hot by now and it was a shame we had to end – it was only 3.30. Roll on the next trip on the 28th!

Text by Andrew

Photographs by Susan