Soothill, Batley

Saturday 25^th June 2022

Leader: Andrew Kafel

We met up on the roadside at Soothill to visit the nearby landscaped former tip. The tip was across a field near to where we parked and had changed drastically from our previous visit, the trees having grown much bigger and the footpaths often disappearing but luckily we had Andrew to guide us. One of our first finds was a bush that we could not at first identify but we managed to find a few buds which confirmed it as Evergreen Spindle (Euonymus japonicus). Nearby we found some excellent Rosy Garlic (Allium roseum), which was a surprise find, and Green-ribbed Sedge (Carex binervis) which is usually found on moorland.

We found some orchids scattered around, namely, Common Spotted-orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii), Southern Marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa) and hybrids between these two species (Dactylorhiza x grandis) which were rather confusing as they varied so much. We were hoping to find Bee Orchids (Ophrys apifera) and eventually managed to find one hidden amongst the grass. There were lots of Common Centaury (Centaurium erythraea) and some fine bushy specimens of Goats Rue (Galega officinalis).

We found some rather confusing introduced plants including two interesting garden cultivars of Meadow Crane's-bill. One of these was Geranium pratense ‘Mrs Kendall Clark’. The other cultivar, which had dark pink flowers, has been named, from photographs I send to Michael Wilcox, as Geranium pratense var. stewartianum ‘Raina’ which is a garden plant originating in the Himalayas.

We managed to name seven cotoneasters which were scattered about and we found a small patch of relic moorland which had Common Yellow-sedge (Carex demissa), Common Spike- rush (Eleocharis palustris) and Common Cottongrass (Eriophorum angustifolium). Altogether a pleasant day but I don’t think I would travel there alone as I would almost certainly get lost - luckily we had Andrew to lead us.

Text by Jesse

Photographs by Jesse and Mark