Bishop Wood

Saturday 28th April 2018

Leader: Phyl Abbot

This joint meeting with the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union (YNU) was attended by 25 in total. The weather was a little chilly (I wish I’d not been so keen to store away by woolly gloves) but it remained dry, with the only rain appearing on our car journey home.

We walked a circuit, clockwise from the car park, first exploring the southern side of the wood, south of Scalm Lane. It was mostly easy walking on flat wide tracks. Bishop Wood is an ancient woodland site that was planted with conifers and is managed by the Forestry Commission. It is now a mix of mature conifers, including Corsican Pine, Scots Pine and Douglas Fir, as well as broadleaved species including Oak, Ash, Sycamore, Poplar, Birch and Willow.

A little distance into our walk we were treated to good floral displays of Opposite-leaved Golden-saxifrage (Chrysosplenium oppositifolium) and Common Dog-violet (Viola riviniana). I saw my first Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) of the year in flower. Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna) was still out in flower and it was interesting to see a patch with bulbils in the leaf axils clearly visible. This makes them the subspecies verna (note, some books still show this plant under the former name of Ranunculus ficaria ssp. bulbilifer).

We came across more open patches of woodland, where a foreground of Greater Stitchwort (Stellaria holostea) and new fresh growth of grasses lead to a back drop of displays of Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta). There were many bluebells in flower, but they will probably be at their best in a week or two.

It was also good to see Wood-sedge (Carex sylvatica) and Cuckoo-flower (Cardamine pratensis) out in flower and a good specimen of Hard Shield-fern (Polystichum aculeatum) was spotted. We identified many more plants not yet in flower including Common Figwort (Scrophularia nodosa), Water Figwort (Scrophularia auriculata) and four species of St John's-wort.

It was interesting to see a good stand of Greater Pond-sedge (Carex riparia), the dedicated jumping the wide water filled ditch to get a closer look.

Around the corner, we dived through the undergrowth to one of the highlights of the day, Elongated Sedge (Carex elongata), growing in the shallows of a pond. The pale green tussocks were easily distinguished from the darker foliage of other species and on close inspection, the young flower stems could be seen nestled low amongst the leaves. This is an uncommon species, with a scattered distribution in Britain.

After lunch we continued into the northern part of the wood, north of Scalm Lane where we saw good numbers of Primroses (Primula vulgaris). We were treated to some fine Early-purple Orchids (Orchis mascula), another highlight of the day. Don pointed out an interesting Bramble (Rubus eboracensis) with fine, slender prickles.

Overall, we enjoyed a very pleasant walk and it was great to hear the song of chiff-chaff, willow-warbler and blackcap throughout the wood. Many thanks to Phyl for leading.

Text by Susan

Photographs by Tom