We left Bradford in the minibus on a cloudy, chilly day, destination Allerthorpe Common, to the south east of York, a Yorkshire Wildlife Trust nature reserve within Forestry Commission woodland. A main point of interest was to find a patch of May Lilies within the nature reserve, and the possibility of seeing Adders - opinion was divided as to whether that would be desirable. Plenty of flowers and grasses to be seen central-motorway and on verges en route (hard to definitively identify at a distance and at speed!)
Still in the car park the first flowers spotted on leaving the minibus were Green Alkanet, which led to the question of why 'green' when the flowers are so intensely blue. Clarified when Black Medic was spotted later and there was discussion of the colours different plants produce when used for dying (eg Dyer's Greenweed (not seen here))
The path through the woodland to the nature reserve is wide and open and about a kilometre long - there was so much to look at we hadn't reached the nature reserve by lunchtime . . .
From a short distance Honeysuckle climbing up into a young Oak tree looked unearthly as some of its flowers rested on the Oak leaves. Lots of Yellow Rattle growing at the edge of the path, quite sparse at first then dense for some yards before thinning out again. A few very small Common Spotted Orchids and a solitary pale pink Columbine. Plenty of Speedwells, Germander, Wood and Heath. And Field Forget-Me-Not, unmistakable as Forget-Me-Not, the flowers are tiny. There was a lush Hogweed plant, its tops curled over waiting for the flowers to push their way out, then another a bit further along where the umbels of flowers had begun to emerge.
Lunch was eaten sitting on several large felled tree trunks, conveniently placed and timely for us. Once done we headed for the nature reserve, a fenced off area within the woodland.
Climbing over the stile we entered a very different landscape, open and tufty, designated an SSSI, Lowland Heath. Full of tussocks and hollows, and possibly Adders, care had to be taken when venturing off the path.
Heather and Cross-Leaved Heath were plentiful, useful to see them together to compare and contrast. But the main focus was finding the May Lily in its fenced off area. We had directions but there were a few different bits of fence attracting attention. We reached the far fence of the nature reserve finding Climbing Corydalis along the way.
Deciding where to look next, we heard calling from the break away search party of Kevin and Angela - they had found the May Lily enclosure beside the far boundary fence, under some trees in a small Beech and Birch wood. The plants are fenced off to prevent them being eaten by the cattle which seasonally graze the site. It was a shame we couldn't inspect them more closely but we, Alice particularly, were very pleased to have found them.
Trees nearby had Hoof and Bracket fungus growing on them, there was also some Hoof fungus beginning to decay on the ground. Sorrel and Groundsel in that patch also, and a tiny Holly plant at the base of one of the trees.
We went back over towards our exit via a pond and rushes spotted earlier. The way was boggy underfoot and we began to see Marsh Cinquefoil leaves and were soon rewarded with the lovely magenta flowers, at first one or two then many more. Found some Common Lousewort also, the resemblance of its seed pods to those of Yellow Rattle was noted as was its shared hemi-parasitic habit. We sniffed the coconut tinged scent of Gorse flowers before we left the heathland area.
Retracing our steps through the woodland, we revisited some of the plants we'd seen earlier and also found some Common Vetch. There was a huge Lesser Burdock plant near the end and one uprooted Himalayan Balsam, the first we'd seen on site, here's hoping there isn't more . . .
We heard plenty of birdsong all day but after the welcome from a Robin by the car park we didn't see all that much wildlife. A Woodpecker (not sure which) in flight was seen and a Tree Pipit on a tree in the heathland was watched and listened to. There were no adders disturbed. (There were a number of dogs being walked!)
Many thanks to Alice for leading the trip - she had been waiting for four years to see the May Lilies - and to Julia and Kevin for driving us there and back.
Footnote: I was very pleased to see a Peregrine Falcon on City Hall clock tower on my way in at about 9 o'clock and twice more once back in Bradford. I don't know whether I saw the same bird each time.
Alison