Dewsbury

Saturday 4^th September 2021

Leader: Andrew Kafel

The BBG summer programme would have finished with our trip to Golden Acre Park on 20^th August but Andrew offered to extend the season of field visits by leading two more trips on 4^th and 12^th September, which we are most grateful for.

The walk began from the car park of the Leggers Inn. In the canal marina we immediately spotted some large plants growing below the surface of the water. They appeared to be rosettes of long spiky leaves, likely to be introduced non-native plants, but as yet to be identified. A Bur-marigold was on the edge of the canal here too (later identified by Jesse as Beggarticks, Bidens frondosa). We walked on the canal towpath for a little while with the canal to our right. On the fence to our left was much Russian-vine in flower, along with some small white and pink striped flowers of Field Bindweed. Along the canal edge, plants included Reed Sweet-grass, Amphibious Bistort, Marsh Woundwort, Skullcap, Sweet-flag, Purple-loosestrife, Canadian Goldenrod and Gypsywort. In the water were Arrowhead (including at least one in flower), Floating Pennywort and Nuttall's Waterweed. Near the path edge Jesse spotted a plant of Buckwheat in flower, which perhaps arrived as seed from a picnic. Another interesting find was a Ribwort Plantain with a strange growth form – at the top of a long stem was a small rosette of leaves and several flower stems. Jesse later confirmed it as Many-headed Ribwort Plantain (Plantago lanceolata var. multiceps) . A hybrid Cinquefoil (Potentilla x mixta) was found, the flowers with 4 yellow petals and leaves with 3 leaflets .

Leaving the canal, we then walked along a series of roads and paths and through brownfield sites and snippets of woodland, leaving me quite disoriented! Andrew pointed out a range of interesting plants. Along the road was a pink flowered cultivar of Purple Toadflax (Linaria purpurea 'Canon Went') and Italian Alder with its characteristic large cones. A big patch of Hairy Tare had both flowers and fruits, making for easy identification, and a little further on, was a patch of Hare's-foot Clover. Growing at the side of the Dewsbury-Osset Greenway (a former railway line, now a cycle track and footpath) were Wormwood and Mugwort and it was useful to see these two similar species side by side. A loud humming noise turned out to be caused by a model aircraft enthusiast who was flying his plane near by.

A shrub of Sweet-briar was adorned with many bright red rose hips and not far away was a single plant of Rose Campion (white flowered form) and the small pom-pom like seed heads of Blue Fleabane (I also spotted a smaller plant of Blue Fleabane still in flower). On the large viaduct Equal-leaved Knotgrass (Polygonum depressum) was seen, followed later by the more common Knotgrass (P. aviculare).

Under one of the arches of the viaduct were the frothy white flowers of Dittander, as well as the tall and elegant Hungarian Brome. Common Fiddleneck was also a nice find at the edge of a sports field. After lunch, the species list continued to expand. I was interested to see a large pink and white striped flower of Hedge Bindweed, later confirmed as Calystegia sepium ssp. roseata.

Continuing on to the riverbank Andrew was keen to show us an unusual Spurge, which he thought may have been Leafy Spurge, encouraging a couple of people to take a small sample to key out later to see if they agreed with his id. Identification of this plant wasn't easy but it was later identified by Jesse as Twiggy Spurge (Euphorbia x pseudovirgata). We were just about to retrace our footsteps back to the road when a man from the model aircraft group came up to us and told us we were on private land which we hadn’t realised! The man seemed understanding, so no harm done. He said he was concerned about the risk to us from their less experienced flyers!

Safely back on public land, Andrew pointed out an unusual form of Ash called Single-leaved Ash (Fraxinus excelsior f. diversifolia) growing by the roadside. There was a steep climb through an area of woodland where we saw Soft Shield-fern, Lodgepole Pine and Sitka Spruce. Later on Andrew pointed out a plant of the aptly named Hairy-fruited Broom which had densely hairy seed pods, quite different to our native Broom. It was also good to see Great Horsetail and Alsike Clover in an area of grassland. Soon after we were back on the Dewsbury-Osset Greenway and walked through the long tunnel. Emerging from the tunnel, in an area of long grass were Black Bent, Tall Fescue and the pretty pink flowers of Sainfoin.

At the side of a road it was good to see good amounts of Cyclamen in flower, although it was a shame it had to battle through the litter under the shrubs here. Not long after was a white flowered form of Hedgerow Crane's-bill and a single plant of Common Millet was growing as a pavement weed, most likely arrived as birdseed.

Turning off on a path downhill, we gorged on the juicy, delicately flavoured berries of Chinese Bramble before going past some Black Horehound (in flower) and heading back over the viaduct to the canal. On the viaduct, a plant which had long narrow leaves with a white stripe on the midrib above caused a bit of confusion (there were no flowers or seeds, only the leaves). Jesse was called over to take a look, but although he knew the plant he couldn’t recall its name and after a few attempts we finally guessed correctly from Jesse’s clues that it was a young plant of Goat's-beard. It was useful to know what it looks like with no flowers or seed heads. Back at the Leggers Inn, Andrew treated us all to a drink and it was a very pleasant way to end the trip.

Text by Susan

Photographs by Tom