Buttercup Meadows

What do they say about buses – none come for hours than three turn up at once?!! So still running to catch up, this blog dates from the following day, 22 June, when I’d nipped across the mountains from the Lake District to the North Pennines.

In my mind, the early summer in the North Pennines is typified by the large number of traditional yellow meadows that even on wet and grey days, seem to shine out of the haze and illuminate the place with warmth all their own. The yellow is so bright that it shines out against the duller greens of the background, almost as if it has a fluorescent element combined within the flowers.

Buttercup Meadows in Teesdale – 22 June 2013 (Copyright Carol Jones)

These yellow meadows are mainly made up of the flowers of the Meadow Buttercup, where the yellow flowers stand out some inches above the height of the surrounding grasses. This extra height of the blooms, means that as the wind blows, they do a gentle swaying dance, as though moving to some unheard tune. In areas which are wetter, the Meadow Buttercups are accompanied by the much larger and richer yellow flowers of the Marsh Marigold. At the higher altitudes of the North Pennies, the Marsh Marigolds are still in full flower in the second half of June, as the season is somewhat later there than in warmer lowland areas. In areas which are even wetter, the Meadow Buttercups and Marsh Marigolds are accompanied by the jewel in the crown, in the form of the paler and almost majestic, delicate yellow blooms of the Globeflower. The Globeflowers sit there jumping out from the other yellows as being something special, like the diamond amongst glass.

Buttercup Meadows – 22 June 2013 (Copyright Carol Jones)

At a distance these meadows seem to be just made up of yellows, however, on closer inspection though yellow dominates they are often complemented by bands of white, formed from the flowers of the Pignut that take up station on the drier banks, adding variety to the bands of yellow. Further examination will of course add much more variety, hidden from view when the yellow shines at you from a distance and distracts the eye from the detail.

Oh! I Do Like To Be Beside the Seaside!

“Oh! I do like to be beside the seaside
I do like to be beside the sea!
I do like to stroll upon the Prom, Prom, Prom!
Where the brass bands play:
“Tiddely-om-pom-pom!”
So just let me be beside the seaside
I’ll be beside myself with glee”

OK, no proms or brass bands yesterday, but I did go to the seaside, in fact we went to the north Northumberland coast in an effort to try and escape the wet mizzling weather of the Scottish Borders. Failed miserably in that, for the coast was also grey, and mizzling! Unfortunately this fails to display the wonders of the north Northumberland coast to its full grandeur, as most of it was lost in cloud. However, the lost naturalist is not totally put off by the weather and went to one of my favourite places along the Northumberland coast at Scremerston, where there are some fantastic limestone grasslands that have developed across the slag heaps of some long disused lime kilns.

 

Scremerston Beech – 17 June 2012 (Copyright – Carol Jones)

Here the coastal grassland is formed on a mixture of deep soils, that grade rapidly into the thin soils of the slag heaps, as a result two distinctive communities have formed. On the deeper soils the grasslands are dominated by large patches of Bloody Cranesbill, which when in full bloom, produce pillows of fushia pink flowers, usually mixed with the yellows of Common Bird’s-foot-trefoil and edging into patches of Kidney Vetch, with their distinctive fluffy yellow heads. Then on the thinner soils the communities become carpets of lilac Wild Thyme, mixed with the lemon yellow flowers of Mouse-ear Hawkweed, together with the prickly rosettes of Carline Thistle and the occasional shoot of Vipers Bugloss, with spikes of blue flowers.

Bloody Cranesbill – 17 June 2012 (Copyright – Carol Jones)

Some how with this year’s strange weather, the amazing sheets of colour that should by now have been visible, and buzzing with the sound of bees, are still a number of weeks away. Currently there was just the odd pin prick of colour amongst the masses of leaves, and flowers that should by now gone to seed where still happily producing blooms. An example of this are the Cowslips, which still had a number of yellow flowers visible, while the Bloody Cranesbill and Restharrow are mainly just in bud. But still the strange weather had produced some wonderful sights to see as well, such as the many Northern Marsh Orchids in full bloom, together with a number of possible hybrids, the white umbel flowers of the Scots Lovage along the back of the shore line, and the invasion of snails that could be found on almost any of the shoot available.

Orchid – Northern Marsh Orchid or Hybrid? – 17 June 2012 (Copyright – Carol Jones)