As I have been working over the bank holiday there is still no excuse to find a bit of time to spend in the meadows with all this woodland on the doorstep. Yesterday evening I walked Bennyboy through Athey's dean. Not much in the way of migrants with only one Williow warbler singing but a Garden warbler singing at the woodland edge was nice to hear. Plenty of plants to see as there seems to be a surge of plants trying to compete to find the right spot as the leaves begin to unfurl on the trees, soon the amount of light will be restricted on the woodland floor. In flower was Spignel, Wood sorrel, Bluebell, Cuckoo flower and I came across some more Moschatel growing at the woodland edge. This evening I walked through the Borough woods that flank the Wansbeck river. The woodland floor is completely carpeted with Ransomes, Wood anemone, Lesser celandine and Dogs mercury. None of these flowers are showing any signs of fading just yet. Above is the majestic flower of Lords and ladies (arum maculatum). The Wansbeck and the Tyne valleys are the best places to see these plants where they grow in their tens and thousands. They are scattered elsewhere in the county but mysteriously they are absent from the river Coquet. The fungi Mycena inclinata, commonly called Clustered bonnet was growing on a mossy stump next to the river. The leaves in the forground are Ransomes.
2 comments:
Just to let you know, there are alot of lords and ladies on the banks of the weir, below durham cathedral.
I have only seen them, in small numbers in northumberland ( no more than 10 plants, at a time)
The wansbeck around Morpeth seems to be the place where these are plentiful. They also grow at Ulgham in small numbers.
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