Star find!

Yellow star of Bethlehem (Gagea lutea)

I was out with IRD looking for Green Hellebore (Helleborus viridis) along the Wansbeck valley a few miles upstream from Morpeth this morning. After coming across several healthy flowering plants I came across 2 Yellow star of Bethlehem (Gagea lutea) plants one of which was in flower (above). This was a good find as IRD hadn't seen Gagea lutea before and I hadn't seen Helleborus viridus. This is a lovely spot on the River Wansbeck. There was lots of woodland and river birds including Grey Wagtail and Kingfisher. Turner refers to Green Hellebore along the Wansbeck in his herbal of 1568. This is possibly the most Northerly site for this plant in the UK. We called at the Scotch Gill site on the way home to look at the Yellow star of Bethlehem here and we counted 20 flowering plants.

Green Hellebore (Helleborus viridis)