Field Trips 2021
Minera Quarry, Denbighshire 3/7/2021, Burton Marsh 24/7/2021, Hightown Saturday 21/8/2021, Leasowe 4/9/2021, Ormskirk 18/9/2021, Dibbinsdale (Fungus Foray) 9/10/2021
Minera Quarry, Denbighshire 3/7/2021, Burton Marsh 24/7/2021, Hightown Saturday 21/8/2021, Leasowe 4/9/2021, Ormskirk 18/9/2021, Dibbinsdale (Fungus Foray) 9/10/2021
Minera Quarry, Denbighshire
Saturday July 3rd 2021
Leader - Barbara Allen
Old industrial site with limestone plants.
On Saturday 3rd July 2021, nine members once again braved the weather to enjoy the delights of Minera Quarry and woods flora that did not disappoint. Clearly the site had suffered a dry and possibly cold spell as plants were late, smaller and shrivelled in some cases.
We only spotted seven live Frog Orchids Coeloglossum viride the main orchid of the day to find but the site was a wealth of this family counting another six members of this group in flower with Common Spotted Orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsii by far out numbering the rest. The weather was kind and allowed us to explore this magnificent area largely in the dry and the thunder only struck as we
found the Round-leaved Wintergreen Pyrola rotundifolia ssp maritima which made a perfect end to the day.
I should like to thank those people whom joined me, making the trip in dreadful weather and contributing so much to the enjoyment of the day.
Barbara Allen
Saturday July 3rd 2021
Leader - Barbara Allen
Old industrial site with limestone plants.
On Saturday 3rd July 2021, nine members once again braved the weather to enjoy the delights of Minera Quarry and woods flora that did not disappoint. Clearly the site had suffered a dry and possibly cold spell as plants were late, smaller and shrivelled in some cases.
We only spotted seven live Frog Orchids Coeloglossum viride the main orchid of the day to find but the site was a wealth of this family counting another six members of this group in flower with Common Spotted Orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsii by far out numbering the rest. The weather was kind and allowed us to explore this magnificent area largely in the dry and the thunder only struck as we
found the Round-leaved Wintergreen Pyrola rotundifolia ssp maritima which made a perfect end to the day.
I should like to thank those people whom joined me, making the trip in dreadful weather and contributing so much to the enjoyment of the day.
Barbara Allen
Burton Marsh
Saturday July 24th 2021
Leader - Robert Freeth.
Started at the cattle grid on Station Road, (SJ302746), and explored the Dee coast and salt marsh, even popping over the border in to Wales.
This Liverpool Botanical Society (LBS) field trip on July 24th 2021 starts at OS grid reference SJ302746 on Station Road, Burton at the marsh gateway. This 4 to 5 mile walk is along the tarmac trackway by the field wall going south through OS grids monad SJ3074 to approximately the sheep pens, then into monad SJ3073 to Burton Point. We had a lunch break here & explored the hillside. Then continued on south over the raised boardwalk across the marsh to the tarmac track along-side the railway line, soon entering Flintshire, North Wales by the railway sidings before entering monad SJ3072 at approximately 100 yards from the Rifle Range side entrance then on a further 200 yards, exploring the rough track to the Rifle Range gateway & the rough grassland beyond to SJ307725.
The significant plant species include the following: Henbane, White Horehound, Spiny variety of Common Restharrow, Musk Thistle & Slender Thistle I have currently not seen anywhere else on the Wirral, plus Skullcap, Sand Spurrey, Common Valerian & Wormwood which are rarely seen elsewhere on the Wirral peninsula.
Robert Freeth
species list below (also includes two Recce visits)
Saturday July 24th 2021
Leader - Robert Freeth.
Started at the cattle grid on Station Road, (SJ302746), and explored the Dee coast and salt marsh, even popping over the border in to Wales.
This Liverpool Botanical Society (LBS) field trip on July 24th 2021 starts at OS grid reference SJ302746 on Station Road, Burton at the marsh gateway. This 4 to 5 mile walk is along the tarmac trackway by the field wall going south through OS grids monad SJ3074 to approximately the sheep pens, then into monad SJ3073 to Burton Point. We had a lunch break here & explored the hillside. Then continued on south over the raised boardwalk across the marsh to the tarmac track along-side the railway line, soon entering Flintshire, North Wales by the railway sidings before entering monad SJ3072 at approximately 100 yards from the Rifle Range side entrance then on a further 200 yards, exploring the rough track to the Rifle Range gateway & the rough grassland beyond to SJ307725.
The significant plant species include the following: Henbane, White Horehound, Spiny variety of Common Restharrow, Musk Thistle & Slender Thistle I have currently not seen anywhere else on the Wirral, plus Skullcap, Sand Spurrey, Common Valerian & Wormwood which are rarely seen elsewhere on the Wirral peninsula.
Robert Freeth
species list below (also includes two Recce visits)
| wirral_burton_marsh_2021_lbs_visit_in_latin_name_order.docx |
Hightown
Saturday 21st August 2021
Leader – Steve Cross
From Hightown station (SD300036) on to the Saltmarsh and Beach for coastal and sand dune plants.
Steve Cross led members to the banks of the River Alt, pointing out a variety of pavement and kerb weeds on our way from the station, including Sea Fern-grass Catapodium marinum and Buckshorn Plantain Plantago coronopus. We were soon in the reedbed, muddy riverbank and developing saltmarsh along the Alt. Heading South we reached bare mud, exposed submerged forest beds and patches of saltmarsh plants, all backed by an eroding sand dune face. Among many plants noted were: Sea Bindweed Calystegia soldanella, Prickly Saltwort Salsola kali and Babingtons Orache Atriplex glabriuscula. Further south is the stretch of wave-worn rubble from demolished Liverpool buildings with plants typical of shingle habitats, such as Yellow Horned-poppy Glaucium flavum and Rock Samphire Crithmum maritimum. We returned via a mature dune landscape noting Burnet Saxifrage Pimpinella saxifraga and towards the end of the walk the pink flowered form of Bindweed Calystegia sepium ssp roseata.
Peter Gateley
Photos by Steve Cross
Saturday 21st August 2021
Leader – Steve Cross
From Hightown station (SD300036) on to the Saltmarsh and Beach for coastal and sand dune plants.
Steve Cross led members to the banks of the River Alt, pointing out a variety of pavement and kerb weeds on our way from the station, including Sea Fern-grass Catapodium marinum and Buckshorn Plantain Plantago coronopus. We were soon in the reedbed, muddy riverbank and developing saltmarsh along the Alt. Heading South we reached bare mud, exposed submerged forest beds and patches of saltmarsh plants, all backed by an eroding sand dune face. Among many plants noted were: Sea Bindweed Calystegia soldanella, Prickly Saltwort Salsola kali and Babingtons Orache Atriplex glabriuscula. Further south is the stretch of wave-worn rubble from demolished Liverpool buildings with plants typical of shingle habitats, such as Yellow Horned-poppy Glaucium flavum and Rock Samphire Crithmum maritimum. We returned via a mature dune landscape noting Burnet Saxifrage Pimpinella saxifraga and towards the end of the walk the pink flowered form of Bindweed Calystegia sepium ssp roseata.
Peter Gateley
Photos by Steve Cross
Leasowe
Saturday 4th September 2021
Leader - John Crowder.
From the car park just NW of the lighthouse and headed west along the Seafront with dune and wetland habitats through Leasowe Common and Meols Dunes.
We met up at the car park just NW of Leasowe Lighthouse (SJ 252913) and John Crowder led us first into a large meadow area. Given the lateness of the season, many species had finished flowering but some Meadow Cranesbill Geranium pratense and Field Scabious Knautia arvensis flowers were seen and the yellow seedheads of Smaller Cat’s-tail Phleum bertolonii were quite frequent. Lucerne Medicago sativa was still flowering well and in a wide range of colours, from almost white to a deep purple. Stems of Alexanders Smyrnium olusatrum, on the other hand, had completely dried out and bore heads of chunky matte-black seeds. John led us along paths through willow scrub, reedbeds and past small waterbodies into areas of open sand dune, with a wide diversity of species. As well as the flowering plants John showed us, Steve also pointed out many species of rusts, mildews and galls becoming more noticeable as Autumn approaches.
Peter Gateley
Photos by Steve Cross
Saturday 4th September 2021
Leader - John Crowder.
From the car park just NW of the lighthouse and headed west along the Seafront with dune and wetland habitats through Leasowe Common and Meols Dunes.
We met up at the car park just NW of Leasowe Lighthouse (SJ 252913) and John Crowder led us first into a large meadow area. Given the lateness of the season, many species had finished flowering but some Meadow Cranesbill Geranium pratense and Field Scabious Knautia arvensis flowers were seen and the yellow seedheads of Smaller Cat’s-tail Phleum bertolonii were quite frequent. Lucerne Medicago sativa was still flowering well and in a wide range of colours, from almost white to a deep purple. Stems of Alexanders Smyrnium olusatrum, on the other hand, had completely dried out and bore heads of chunky matte-black seeds. John led us along paths through willow scrub, reedbeds and past small waterbodies into areas of open sand dune, with a wide diversity of species. As well as the flowering plants John showed us, Steve also pointed out many species of rusts, mildews and galls becoming more noticeable as Autumn approaches.
Peter Gateley
Photos by Steve Cross
Leasowe Common
Meols Dunes
Rusts, Mildews and Galls
Back along the Sea Wall
Ormskirk
Saturday 18th September 2021
Leader - Peter Gateley
We met at Ormskirk Station (SD 417084) L39 2YN, and botanised through the town centre, suburbs and out in to the rural areas covering pavement and planting-bed weeds and then out into surrounding arable land and then back through Aughton.
From Ormskirk Station, Peter Gateley led the party to the bus station where the council planters had splendid thickets of Shaggy Soldier Galinsoga quadriradiata swamping the council’s plantings. We looked at a variety of typical urban pavement and gutter weeds on our way to a raised bed near Marks and Spencer, here original planting of Lonicera pileata had partly died out and a variety of weeds had colonised, mainly small crucifers and Squirrel-tail Fescue Vulpia bromoides but amongst them, specimens of Green-flowered Helleborine Epipactis phyllanthes. There were around a dozen capsule-bearing spikes of this nationally scarce plant, both in the open soil and growing up through the Lonicera. We saw more-typical weeds such as Water Bent Polypogon viridis making our way into the arable fields around Ormskirk and returning via a sandstone outcrop in Aughton with flowering Heather Calluna vulgaris, both pink and white.
Peter Gateley
Photos by Steve Cross
Saturday 18th September 2021
Leader - Peter Gateley
We met at Ormskirk Station (SD 417084) L39 2YN, and botanised through the town centre, suburbs and out in to the rural areas covering pavement and planting-bed weeds and then out into surrounding arable land and then back through Aughton.
From Ormskirk Station, Peter Gateley led the party to the bus station where the council planters had splendid thickets of Shaggy Soldier Galinsoga quadriradiata swamping the council’s plantings. We looked at a variety of typical urban pavement and gutter weeds on our way to a raised bed near Marks and Spencer, here original planting of Lonicera pileata had partly died out and a variety of weeds had colonised, mainly small crucifers and Squirrel-tail Fescue Vulpia bromoides but amongst them, specimens of Green-flowered Helleborine Epipactis phyllanthes. There were around a dozen capsule-bearing spikes of this nationally scarce plant, both in the open soil and growing up through the Lonicera. We saw more-typical weeds such as Water Bent Polypogon viridis making our way into the arable fields around Ormskirk and returning via a sandstone outcrop in Aughton with flowering Heather Calluna vulgaris, both pink and white.
Peter Gateley
Photos by Steve Cross
Dibbinsdale Fungus Foray
Saturday 9th October
Leader : Steve Cross
We met in the visitor centre car park and Steve Cross led us out into the mainly woodland habitat, finding many fungi along the way. We soon got to an area of seeded wildflower meadow, with many species bearing late-season flowers, then we headed into the mature woodland and stream banks finding a wide range of fungi. Steve and Tony Carter both identified fungal fruiting bodies growing on decomposing timber, tree roots, leaf litter and dead plant stems, ranging from large and obvious brackets to tiny and almost invisible species.
Peter Gateley
Photos by Barbra Allen and Tony Carter
