The Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust is holding a Flowers of the Dales Festival until the end of October, with over 120 events celebrating the wildflowers of the Dales. We recently went along to a walk exploring the flowers of Malham Tarn, led by the National Trust.
This took in two types of ecosystem: limestone grassland and peat bog. But before that we saw three other plants: sweet cicely (of which more in a later blog post), melancholy thistle (cirsium heterophyllum, a non-spiny variety, so surely the one munched by Eeyore in his gloomy place) and Welsh Poppy, which came in vibrant orange as well as the more usual yellow.
Limestone Grassland
This was a field which had been left ungrazed to see what turned up. And what turned up was a surprising variety of wildflowers in a short space of time: heath bedstraw, milkwort, tormentil, wild thyme, bird’s foot trefoil, mountain everlasting and mountain pansy. All rather small, to be sure, but this is after only a couple of years. Who knows what will turn up if it is left ungrazed for longer?
Peat Bog
This landscape reminded me very much of Scotland, especially given the number of pesky midges, which seemed to be thriving. The walk information had recommended bringing insect repellent and this was a very good tip. Interestingly, the National Trust folk were equipped with Avon Skin So Soft, which smells a lot nicer than other repellents!
Here we came across a wide range of plants, some familiar, others less so: bugle, northern marsh orchid, ragged robin, marsh cinquefoil, bog bean, common sundew, star & spagnum mosses, meadow cranesbill, water avens, globe flower and eyebright.
So if you’re going to be in the Dales between now and the end of October, keep a look out for the flowers of the Dales Festival events – there’s a programme on the website.