Wharram Quarry

Saturday 3rd August 2024

Leaders: Anthony & Rita Grainger (BBG) and Sheila Wynn (Wild Flower Society)

The venue for this joint meeting between Bradford Botany Group and the Wild Flower Society was Wharram Quarry, a Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Reserve, situated in the undulating folds of the East Yorkshire Wolds. It was actively quarried for chalk between 1919 and the 1940s. 19 of us met in the car park for Wharram Percy Medieval Village, stepping out of our cars to find a surprisingly refreshing breeze. As we set off down the path, which descended to an old disused railway track, the breeze disappeared and it turned into a perfect summer day. It was a walk of over a kilometre, much of it along the track, before we got to the quarry. There was much to see en route and Andrew was very busy recording a wide range of species along the way.

Probably the most unlikely find was Blue Water-Speedwell (Veronica anagallis-aquatica) growing out of the grass which ran along the centre of the old railway track. Time ebbed away very quickly as the pace was typically “botany slow”, not wanting to miss anything. We needed to put a spurt on to get to our destination in time for lunch!

Once there, and before the sandwiches came out, we wanted to find the Woolly Thistle (Cirsium eriophorum). That did not take long – the first we saw was easily 6 feet high and so heavy it could not hold itself up straight! We looked very hard to find Thistle Broomrape (Orobanche reticulata), initially without success. However we spread out and Jesse was the first to find it - a thistle with five spikes of broomrape. Throughout the day the group counted 17 seed spikes of the broomrape (it flowers in May).

Very satisfied, we adjourned to a slight hillock in the quarry and enjoyed lunch. By this time we had seen many Autumn Gentians (Gentianella amarella) and Clustered Bellflowers (Campanula glomerata) and we still had a lot of the quarry to wander around in the afternoon.

It was a tailor-made day for enjoying the butterflies and Nyree recorded 11 species. The Marbled Whites were amazingly obliging, pleasing the photographers.

We had to re-trace our steps back to the car park when it was sadly time for us to leave the quarry, but we passed close by the Medieval Village of Wharram Percy and some of the group peeled off there to view it and see the view of the Wolds from higher ground. At that point we said our farewells. We thanked everybody for coming and sharing their knowledge and also thanked those who had helped to organise and record. It was a happy group that left for home.

Text by Rita

Photographs by Tom & Susan