Thorney Bank Farm & Cleaving Coombe

Geoffrey Wilmore Memorial Recording Day

Saturday 10^th July 2021

Leader: Kay McDowell

11 members made the trip to Thorney Bank Farm, about 3 miles south-east of Pocklington. A worrying rain shower during the journey had stopped by the time we got there, so we all met in the farm yard in dry, warm weather.

Kay introduced us to the farmer, Martin, who showed us around his garden, and particularly an area he’d dedicated to growing declining cornfield annuals like Red Hemp-nettle, Corncockle, Flixweed, Corn Buttercup, Pheasant’s-Eye and Weasel’s-snout. It was interesting to see what these plants looked like, as they are now uncommon in the wild.

Martin then led us from his garden out into some beautiful hay meadows. He had increased the species richness of these meadows by covering them with hay bought in from two nearby SSSI meadows. Pepper Saxifrage was spotted, along with Great Burnet, Devil’s-bit Scabious and Common Knapweed. Scented and Scentless Mayweed were observed growing together, enabling a comparison to be made (the petals of Scented Mayweed reflex when the flower is going over). The stand-out species for me in the morning was Adder’s-tongue. This is a species I have rarely seen, due to it being so inconspicuous. We then walked around two ponds, where Gypsywort and Southern Marsh Orchid were seen.

We then drove a short distance to another hay meadow, also managed by Martin. A number of interesting species were seen, including Pale Persicaria, Alsike Clover, Smooth Tare and Field Pepperwort. The main reason why Martin wanted to take us to this site, however, was to show us the Knapweed Broomrape, which we reached after a short walk. It was impressively tall and stout and Common Broomrape was also present nearby, along with Pyramidal Orchids, Bee Orchids, Sainfoin and Musk Mallow. White Campion and Bladder Campion were seen growing next to each other, again enabling a comparison to be made (the strongly inflated calyx-tubes of Bladder Campion are more strongly patterned than in White Campion). It was wonderful to see a number of Marbled White butterflies, something we aren’t used to seeing in West Yorkshire, but which are commoner here in the east.

After lunch in the farmyard, we drove a short distance to the final site of the day, Cleaving Coombe, a species rich calcareous grassland with a steep, dry valley running down the middle of it. There was a lovely view and a lot more beautiful plants to look at. These included Dropwort, Betony, Burnet Saxifrage and both Field and Small Scabious. These latter two species are easily told apart by the fact that Small Scabious has much narrower bracts below the flower heads and has obvious long black bristle-like sepals present. Time was spent identifying an Eyebright, which turned to be Confused Eyebright. It was, in fact, less confusing to key out than expected! This meadow was full of Marbled White butterflies, and Yellowhammers were heard constantly here and throughout the day.

We all thoroughly enjoyed our day and it was great to see Martin having so much success at both creating species-rich hay meadows and growing rare weeds of cultivation in his garden.

Text by Tom

Photographs by Susan