Cornfield Flowers Project Visits

Saturday 30th June 2018

Leaders: Penelope Dawson Brown (am) & Martin Stringer (pm)

It was a beautiful sunny day on the edge of the North York Moors. We were welcomed with tea and biscuits before setting off up Birkhead Hill near Lastingham. On the way up this steep hill we came across acid loving plants such as heather (Calluna vulgaris) and bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) as well as heath grass (Danthonia decumbens), compact rush (Juncus conglomeratus) and the beautiful slender St. John's wort (Hypericum pulchrum) which was just coming into flower.

At the top of the hill, with views over towards the cornfields project (which we were visiting later) and the North York Moors in the distance, we came across plants which prefer calcareous soils such as the scented musk thistle (Carduus nutans), yellow oat-grass (Trisetum flavescens), lady's bedstraw (Galium verum) and common wild thyme (Thymus polytrichus). Walking further down the hill we passed acid-loving plants including pill sedge (Carex pilulifera), typically with its head in the heather.

Then we drove over to the cornfields project which has been seeded every year for the about the past 6 or 7 years. We saw field pennycress (Thlaspi arvense), weasel’s-snout (Misopates orontium) with its pale pink flowers, corn marigold (Glebionis segetum), it’s yellow flowers not quite out yet. Then there was the blue form of scarlet pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis ssp. arvensis), common fumitory (Fumaria officinalis), common gromwell (Lithospermum officinale), the blue flowers of bugloss (Anchusa arvensis), corn buttercup (Ranunculus arvensis), with its interesting spiky fruits, cornflower (Centaurea cyanus) and corncockle (Agrostemma githago). Corn-spurrey (Spergularia arvensis) was opening as it became midday.

Then we drove to Nunburnholme and our first stop was Martin’s garden with some interesting plants such as sharp-leaved fluellin (Kickxia elatine), dwarf spurge (Euphorbia exigua) and cut-leaved germander (Teucrium botrys). We walked to the large meadow which has been in arable reversion for 15 years. Desirable species were introduced by spreading hay taken from grasslands at Derwent Ings and Bishop Wilton. There are now 190 species including the hedge and woodland. Notable species seen were narrow-leaved water-dropwort (Oenanthe silaifolia), which Jesse declared as ‘plant of the day’. We also saw round-fruited rush (Juncus compressus) with its very attractive shiny round chestnut-coloured fruits, burnet saxifrage (Pimpinella saxifraga), spiked sedge (Carex spicata), brown sedge (C. disticha) and pepper-saxifrage (Silaum silaus), amongst many other species.

We ended the day with tea, scones and biscuits!

Text by Kay

Photographs by Brigid, Bruce & Niki