Skylarks and Vipers Bugloss

Meaux Road , Routh ER

Cyling through the lanes around Sutton in Holderness with my school friend Christine Addinell over 50 years ago I remember the first Wild Flower I could not identify at all not even its  family . 

I remember just where it was, in the hedge, just before Routh Church (brass rubbing expedition) and could not wait to look it up .

Experience now tells me that it was probably a garden escape, but it was there in my book nevertheless Echium vulgare (oka Vipers Bugloss). 

I still use my childhood flora, though have had to progress to Roses 'Wildflower Key' , and Staces 'New Flora of the British Isles' after my serious Botany courses :still intuitive identification , though not scientific , rarely fails me as long as I have plenty of info to back it up. Years and years as the daughter of a fisherman  led to a childhood of sitting still by river banks; Derwent,  Hull , Bain, Cover and Ure with nothing to do but watch and listen . My sisters and I learned to recognise Mayflies, Stone flies ,Damsel flies and the like so that we could tell our father what fly to use.

It sounds idyllic but it wasn't always, sometimes it was just boring. I probably became a reader at that time too. I soon learned to name all the plant life , loved fungi  and lichens as well as the vascular plants  and started my own collection of Wildflowers pressing and drying and displaying in accordance with Instruction for Collectors PLANTS  (British Museum ,Natural History 6th Edition).
So  I nearly threw away all the Rowling Herbarium when we moved back to the cottage from Kiaora , but I started again and have for the past 5 years been enjoying monitoring for Plantlife  on KM Square OS TA1081and collecting again . I look again at the specimans collected as a child , and remember the river banks!

This year Plantlife and the BSBI *have moved on in the National Plant Monitoring Scheme , a more scientific and rigorous Survey has just launched . My allocated KM GRID square has changed to OS TA1281, and so now I have the opportunity to monitor some different habitats including  Maritime cliff tops and slopes. 

 I joined FBOG (Filey Bird Observatory and Group) last year. I'm not a dedicated birder but their latest Bird Report makes it quite clear that the study and understanding of the flora of the Filey Area (and beyond ,DG) is integral to the wider picture of what is now called Filey Nature**. I have member benefits now , and can have access to Rocket Pole Field for my survey so will be introduced to the protocol by Jack Whitehead next week. Sue Hull tells me that a wildflower patch has been sown there and is keen for that to be monitored .

Burton Agnes E .pininana 08

The child who learned to watch Skylarks and spot Yellowhammers down East Carr Lane every Sunday, and at 15 found her first Echium is now aiming for the National Collection . Not really, but am thrilled to be expecting a good inflorescence on my allotment of Echium pininana which , is safely through the winter. 











*Botanical Society of the British Isles ** Yahoo Group .

Hunting for Water Crowfoot

Gypsey Race at Rudston

Its great to be back working my patch of England , or should I say Britain. If Scotland becomes an Independant country again I will have to rethink my whole 'where home is' status in light of my scottish ancestry. Filey doesn't always feel home. Sutton in Holderness no longer feels home. London has a sense of home for me, and  Dorking never did, but Iona had the effect on me of safe harbour and could be HOME. And there you have it. Home doesn't have to be just one place to me. I can feel home where I am at the time if I am happy and amongst what Ann of Green Gables called kindred spirits.

I have been seriously searching for the home of any Water Crowfoot. I need one for my course. Colin has made me a grapple hook, following the instructions I was given. I did find Water Crowfoot last time I did the survey for Plantlife of the Wild flowers in the 1km Square I was allocated in Filey. I recorded it 3 years ago , or thought I did.
So last week ,I packed a sandwich for us and we took a lovely walk across Filey parish Farm lane to the flowing ditch, but not a sign! 

Beloved had a great idea. He remembered the pond on the top of the Brigg. Not exactly flowing water, but well worth a try on a lovely day. I was expecting the controversy about fencing off parts of Filey's common land to have meant that the pond was off limits. Half of it was fenced off, but a huge part of it was easily accessible. Amongst the loads of lovely weed, was not a bit of Water Crowfoot.

If you know me , youll have already seen my Rudston pictures on #Facebook. So that is the next part of my fascinating life as a planthunter, without benefit of Wardian case. 

Gypsey Race at Maidens Grave

We had a lovely rest of the day, following that mystical stream called the Gypsey Race. We know it well , love watching it flowing every few years through Burton Fleming, love seeing it as a trickle in Weaverthorpe, or as a hearty flow east of Woldgate on occasion. 

The Gypsey Race was flowing well at Rudston, no sign of Water Crowfoot, the Watercress however , was three feet high.

I have found the home of the Water Crowfoot. My tutor says that not one of her students has yet found it. I have ! I have ! Its in the shop selling Aquatics for ponds. Why didnt we all think of that one!

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