Lower slopes of Ingleborough

Saturday 11^th May 2019

Leader: Alan Schofield

A group of 18 of us met at the car park at Horton in Ribblesdale, with two more people joining us at the train station. Despite recent forecasts, the weather was dry, although somewhat cold. We didn’t start recording straight away, as time was limited on this afternoon walk and we wanted to reach the limestone grassland first. Alan led us across the railway tracks and up the main path towards Ingleborough. When we reached the limestone grassland, Bruce, who had volunteered to compile the species list, was bombarded with plant names, as we started to look closely at the turf. Hairy Violet was seen in flower and good patches of Early Purple Orchids. Hairy Violet has blunt sepals, unlike Teesdale or Common-dog Violet, which both have pointed sepals.

A little further on, we took some time to explore the limestone pavement, which had a mixture of lime and acid loving species, including Lesser Meadow-rue, Green Spleenwort, Brittle Bladder-fern, Bilberry, Heath Milkwort, Limestone Fern, Sanicle and Wood Anemone.

Then we set off to try and find the site for one of the target species of the day, Teesdale Violet. We left the main path and, after a short walk were rewarded with a good number of these violets. The Teesdale Violet usually has hairy leaves, whereas Common Dog-violet usually has hairless leaves. This was evident here, but at least one example of Teesdale Violet with hairless leaves was found. These unusual plants can also be distinguished from Common-dog Violet by the fact that their leaves are less cordate and curl up more at the edges. Teesdale Violet is also a smaller plant than Common-dog Violet, with shorter flower stems and leaves.

We re-traced our steps to the main path, heading to the site for another of the target species, English Sandwort. On the way, we saw extensive carpets of Bird’s-eye Primrose. A good patch of Mossy Saxifrage in flower was also seen.

Alan then led us away from the main path again and, after another short walk over the rough grassland, we saw a good patch of English Sandwort, growing with Spring Sandwort. A lot of the English Sandwort was in flower. Both species were growing together here, so, again, a comparison could be made. The main difference is that English Sandwort has white anthers, whereas those of Spring Sandwort are purple. A low growing Marsh Valerian was also spotted just coming into flower. From a distance, it could have been mistaken for Mountain Everlasting, until the leaves were checked.

This was a wonderful walk, that had been timed to perfection and several people said that they had never seen so much Teesdale Violet, English Sandwort or Bird’s-eye Primrose in flower at once before. Thanks go to Alan, who expertly led us to the right spots for these exciting species.

Text by Tom

Photographs by Susan