Surveying Wildflower Meadows

The last week or two have been quite busy, as I have been getting involved in some wildflower surveys, alongside my 'normal' volunteering work, and as well as dog sitting a chihuahua and a tibetan terrier (not both at the same time!).

So far I have helped to survey wildflower meadows at three sites: Sprotborough Flash, Rossington Carr, and Maltby Low Common. These are all nature reserves managed by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust (YWT), and all three had quite different vegetation which tested my plant ID skills at times!

It is quite satisfying to come across new species in the field, and be able to quickly identify the family from the key features. Common Restharrow (photographed) is something I have not come across before but is a striking plant.  Following my recent course, I am now more confident in being able to identify plants, though I do sometimes have to bring samples home for a closer look. There are still a few others that defeat me but social media and i-spot usually provide an answer quite quickly.

The field surveys have also provided good background research for my next assignment which is to construct a botanical key for ten plant species, and submit herbarium specimens for five of them. The only downside is that they can be from a maximum of four different plant families.  I have managed to find three different species of St John's Wort, several vetches, and a couple of gentians, so hopefully that will provide a good mix of species to go on.

In between all of that, I also attended the YWT staff conference at the start of July. There were some interesting talks in the morning, and it was great to get involved in putting forward ideas for next year's advertising campaign.  In the afternoon, we visited the beautiful site at Brockadale. After a picnic lunch, we had a guided tour of the reserve and saw some amazing wildlife - clustered bellflowers were blooming and looked stunning. The site is famous for it's Marble White butterfly that are fairly scarce in the region. We also saw this strange looking creature, which turned out to be a Chamomile Shark moth caterpillar.

This week I attended the Great Yorkshire Show, an agricultural and countryside fair on a massive scale that is held in Harrogate. I helped on the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust stand, particularly trying to increase awareness of the invasive plant species.  There was a steady stream of people coming into our tent, but I think because we were quite close to one of the gates it did seem to quieten down later in the day. I decided to venture outside and hand out leaflets - some people seemed interested and stopped for a chat, and hopefully some of the others will read the information and learn a little more.