Adel Dam and Golden Acre Park

Geoff Appleyard Memorial Tree Walk

Friday 20^th August 2021

Leader: Graham Heffernan

Number of attendees: 19

Despite an unpromising forecast, we met in the car park off the Otley Road, A660, and walked under the tunnel into the park. We walked through the park to the south east, stopping to look at a number of conifers which were identified by features including leaf shape, number and length and arrangement on twigs as well as by characteristics of the cones. These included Swamp Cypress (Taxodium diststichum), Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) and Coastal Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens).

There were a few plants in flower in the uncut grassy areas such as the attractive and non-invasive Small Balsam (Impatiens parviflora).

Adel Dam nature reserve consists of damp woodland “carr” round a pond and a lake, dominated by Alder (Alnus glutinosa) and Willow (Salix spp.) and drier areas mainly of Oak and Birch with an extensive under-storey of Broad Buckler-fern (Dryopteris dilatata).

Walking into the adjacent gardens of the Parkway Hotel, we learnt about the confusingly named Purple-loosestrife, not a Lysimachia but actually Lythrum salicaria. The flowers have three lengths of style to maximise pollination, like the two style lengths of Primroses. We looked at Norway Spruce / Christmas tree (Picea abies), Black Pine (Pinus nigra) and Nootka Cypress (Cupressus nootkatensis) among others trees.

Walking on along a bank we passed an area on the right which had been excavated by archaeologists investigating remains associated with the nearby Roman road. At the end of the bank on the left we saw the area where Purple Toothwort (Lathraea clandestina) flowers earlier in the year. This introduced-naturalised plant is totally parasitic on Willow and Poplar. To the right in a marshy area were large clumps of Greater Tussock-sedge (Carex paniculata).

Walking back through Golden Acre Park, we saw more attractive trees, some labelled, including a Tulip-tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) with its distinctive square leaves, Maidenhair-tree (Ginkgo biloba) with notched fan-shaped leaves, Sweet Gum (Liquidambar styraciflua), Tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima) and a Japanese Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica), which is planted for its edible fruit in Southern Europe.

We then came to a fine range of Rowans (Sorbus spp.), the berries of which were beginning to develop distinctive colours. The last plants I noted were Prickly Heath (Gaultheria mucronata) and New Zealand Mallow (Hoheria populnea).

It is a most interesting and varied site, which would be well worth visiting both earlier and later in the year. Graham was a very knowledgeable leader, providing a lot of additional information. We didn't have time to go to the nearby Breary Marsh nature reserve.

Text by Brigid

Photographs by Brigid and Tom