Having spent several days thinking and digesting Saturday’s flying trip to some of my favourite places in the North Pennines, and trying to make a decision about what single experience or two to concentrate on in this blog. I’ve come to the conclusion that a flying visit that contained some wonderful sights and sounds needs a flying summary of the best highlights or maybe just those that stand out in the mind.
First stop of the day, was Cow Green Reservoir, where the idea was to follow the trail and find some of the rare and unusual plants that are associated with the range of upland habitats present, from blanket bog to limestone grassland. High on the list had to be the all time favourite of Spring Gentian, with its bright blue star-like flowers, however, even with this years bad season, I still thought that we were probably too late for this speciality. But then there are also things like Scottish Asphodel, Yellow Saxifrage, various Violets, Pansies, and their hybrids, as well as Spring Sandwort, Moonwort and Alpine Bistort to name a few. Well that was the plan, but the weather had other ideas as to what would stand out.
Cow Green Reservoir is a lonely and wild place even on a beautiful summers day, but on a grey day, when the showers were regularly passing down the valley, as white walls of cloud, it had an especially haunting atmosphere. The atmosphere was accelerated by the calls of various waders, that were whisked off rapidly into the wind. The weather, though did also produced some amazing views, from a pair of Golden Plovers standing on a peat bank, to the Lapwings dancing display on the lazy wind and to the lazy glide pass of a patrolling Curlew.
Looking north up Cow Green Reservoir towards an Approaching Shower – 23 June 2012 (Copyright Ross Lockley)
As for the plants we were too late in the season for the Spring Gentian, too early for some of the others, such as Yellow Saxifrage and for many of the others the weather was either too wet or too cold to remain open. For the masses had shut up their blooms, such as the Mountain Pansies and the Common Rockrose that had closed their flowers to protect them against the weather. But on a grey day there were various spots of colour, my favourite amongst the greyness was the sight of the Scottish Asphodel (Tofieldia pusilla), a slender white flowered plant that was produced spots of colour along the ranging torrent of Red Syke, unusual in England, but at home in the Highlands of Scotland.
Moving down the valley our next stop was High Force, where we took the footpath up the far side of the falls, again the plan had been for the plants, particularly the Rock Whitebeam and the largest Juniper woodland in England; but the views had other plans. The massive amounts of rain that we have recently had, produced an amazing sight in the form of the falls themselves, where huge amounts of water poured over the Great Whin Sill before disappearing in a ranging torrent downstream.
High Force – 23 June 2012 (Copyright Ross Lockley)
I have been coming to this area for almost twenty years and in all that time, I have never seen so much water pass over these falls. Usually the amount of water is carefully controlled by the outflow from Cow Green Reservoir, so high flows are rarely ever seen. Within the High Force Hotel, there used to be pictures of the waterfall, before the reservoir was built and one shows the water flowing totally over the centre rock outcrop, something unlikely ever to be seen again. However, Saturday, though the water passing over the falls was no where nearly at that level, was still amazing.
As for the plants, never sure what round here is my favourite, the Rock Whitebeam (Sorbus rupicola) is special as it hangs on by a thread to the rock face, but today, we were somewhat late for the flowers which had become browned with age. I love the Juniper (Juniperus communis) woodland, with its many shapes and forms, and I’m so sad that it now has contracted Phytophthora which may well mark the final downfall of trees that are many hundred of years old. However, some of my favourites are the carpets of Mountain Pansies that coat the upper grassy slopes, where the full variation of colour is found from the pure yellows, through various stages of tricolour to the pure purple, and even on a damp day like Saturday, here they made an amazing picture.
Mountain Pansies – 06 June 2011 – (Copyright Carol Jones)
Our final stop of the day and the furthest south in Teesdale, was Bowlees Quarry. At the quarry it was Orchid time and this time they outshone all, though there were many other amazing plants, colonising the disused quarry, but maybe more of those on another visit. For Saturday the memory is of the amazing display of Orchids to be found here, from the Common Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) to the Northern March Orchid (D. purpurella), and possible many hybrids between the two. There were many carpets of Common Twayblades (Listera ovata) with their man-shaped cream coloured flowers. Then there were the Fragrant Orchids (Gymnadenia conopsea), with flowers that are pinker, have amazingly long spurs and an almost vanilla scent (but I’m never quite sure of that). To the cream of the day, the Greater Butterfly Orchid (Platanthera chlorantha), even though they still needed another few days of sunshine to bring out their blooms. Just the spikes of flower buds, so well hidden amongst the fresh grass shoots and the white Pignut flowers are so amazing.
Common Twayblade – 23 June 2012 – (Copyright Ross Lockley)
For this post I must thank the the Lost Naturalist’s companion for the use of his photos, as my point and shoot camera for wet weather work, decided to die in the middle of a very wet visit.
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