North Yorkshire

These meetings may be booked as individual days.

Saturday 6^th August: South Gare, North Yorkshire

Leader: Dave Barlow

Meet for a 10:30 start opposite the fishermen’s huts at approximately NZ556274 there is usually enough parking.There are are no toilet facilities at the South Gare, although there may be at the fishermen’s cafe which is likely to be open at weekends.

Species list for the Gare is a long one with over 640. Key plants include Frog Rush Juncus ranarius, Maiden Pink Dianthus deltoides, Lesser Centaury Centaurium pulchellum, Purple Milk-vetch Astragalus danicus, Heath Dog-violet Viola canina (will be over but I can show the plants) Uig Hawkweed Hieracium uiginskyense, Sea Holly Eryngium maritimum, and perhaps our rarest plant Proliferous Pink Petrorhagia prolifera. (At a recent visit from Jo Jones from Plantlife she suggested we have by far the biggest population of this species in the country, although how it came to be there is something of a mystery). We also have a large number of alien species which add to the species list.

The terrain is fairly easy going although boots might be advisable on the slag rocks which is a rough area.

The South Gare has a number of different habitats within quite a small area from saltmarsh (a rare habitat along the east coast) to dune slacks, and the unique habitat of the “Cabin Rocks” a stony area of some 5 million tones of Iron and Steelworks slag laid down in 1861. A rare example of an industrial landscape which has been beneficial to wildlife and flora in particular. It is worth seeing this on its own.

During the lockdowns I wrote a Flora of the South Gare which is in pdf format and can be downloaded from the VC62 page on the BSBI website

https://bsbi.org/north-east-yorkshire

To book, contact Janet John wfs.meetings@gmail.com or phone 01753 884490

Sunday 7^th August: Deepdale, Whitcliffe Scar and Woodland via Willance’s Leap, Richmond, Yorkshire

Leader: Linda Robinson

Meet at 10:30 on the roadside at the top of Deepdale at NZ130.025. Bring all-weather clothing/footwear, sun screen, insect repellent and lunch plus drinks. It is a species-rich area and the route is about 4.5km. Not too onerous. A route map will be sent before the meeting.

Interesting limestone flora including Grey Sedge Carex divulsa ssp. leersii, Spiked Sedge Carex spicata, Silver Hair-grass Aira caryophyllea, native Limes Tilia spp., Spindle Euonymus europaeus, Small Teasel Dipsacus pilosus , Hound’s-tongue Cynoglossum officinale and lots of other limestone species. The terrain is steep in places but mainly on well-defined footpaths and tracks with a slight deviation to look around an old Neolithic settlement

To book, contact Janet John wfs.meetings@gmail.com or phone 01753 884490