Yockenthwaite to Hubberholme Meadows

Thursday 12th June 2025

Leader: Bruce Brown

Number of attendees: 20

This lovely walk, largely on National Trust land, was a joint meeting with the Wharfedale Naturalists’ Society, led by Bruce Brown. We climbed up from Yockenthwaite through to open limestone country where we saw Crested Hair-grass (Koeleria macrantha), Limestone Bedstraw (Galium sterneri) and Field Wood-rush (Luzula campestris). I was introduced to the distinctive, and disconcertingly memorable, bitter taste of Biting Stonecrop (Sedum acre).

The more open ground was full of Pignut (Conopodium majus) and Salad Burnet (Poterium sanguisorba ssp sanguisorba) and later we saw Melancholy Thistle (Cirsium heterophyllum), too early to be in flower, and Wood Crane's-bill (Geranium sylvaticum).

After lunch we walked down nearly to Hubberholme before turning back through the meadows on the north of the river. Here, amongst many other plants, we saw a variety of Lady-fern (Athyrium filix-femina) with a red stem, and the orchids which some of our group had been waiting for all day. These included Heath Fragrant-orchid (Gymnadenia borealis), Northern Marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza purpurella) and Common Spotted-orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii), and there was the promise of many more, as most were barely out. In total 176 plants were recorded.

Text and photographs by Helen G