Penglais Woods, Aberystwyth

With my dissertation taking up the majority of my time its nice to get out at any chance I can. Luckily for me some months ago I had decided I'd help co-lead a botanical walk with Sam, in search of the Purple Toothwort Lathraea squamaria.

Although very little is flowering at this time of year which led us to look mainly at some of the fern species which could be found within the woodland in the build up to seeing the toothwort. Purple toothwort is an introduced species to Britain, it was first brought in with the roots of imported trees, which due to it's parasitic nature allowed it to establish. The closest native populations are only a short hop across the channel in France and Belguim.

The Penglais wood's toothwort is a bit of an oddity, mainly due to its choice of host, which seems to be a Metasequoia compared with the usual Salix and Populus it usually grows on.

Chapel Lawn, Shropshire

Rusty-Back Fern, Asplenium ceterach

With the amount of work I have to do in preparation to finishing my final year of University stopping me from being out in the field much, any excuse to go out with Tony and try and ring some birds is hard to resist!

Whilst looking for Dipper Cinclus cinclus nests and colour ringed birds in south-west Shropshire close to Chapel Lawn, we came across a small bridge ,covered in Rusty-back Ferns Asplenium ceterach and Maidenhair Spleenwort Asplenium trichomanes. The rusty-back fern is a lover of alkaline rocks, meaning the local limestone is perfect, whilst the maidenhair spleenwort has a large number sub-species of subspecies, some of which are calcifuges whilst others a calcicoles.

In the end we didn't see any Dippers on this stretch of river but we did go on to catch and ring a 6M Tawny Owl Strix aluco (my 109 species ringed) and a nice brace of Jack Snipe Lymnocryptes minimus, probably the last of the year and some cracking views of Tree Sparrows Passer montanus up on the Ceri ridgeway.

Stanner Rocks NNR, Radnorshire

Lying close to the border between England and Wales, Stanner Rocks NNR looks rather unexciting. It is a rounded igneous massif which has some of the oldest rocks found in Wales, dating to around 702 million years ago and comprising of gabbro, diorite and granite which have created the perfect habitat for a number of rare and interesting plant species.

The Quarry, where most of Stanner's rare plants can be found, as well as Peregrines.

The quarry provides plenty of good perching sites for the local Peregrines Falco peregrinus, one of which could be seen regularly, as well as the perfect habitat for some of rare plants present on the site, many of which won't be out until late spring but one species is already in flower, the Radnor Lily Gagea bohemica. Although well botonised by the Victorians, it had somehow managed to go undiscovered until 1968, when an early year visit brought this species to light. The Radnor Lily is a plant suited to much warmer climates with the colony found here being the only example in Britain and the closest population being found in southern France. In total 3 plants still had flowers on them although two were close to being over and its unlikely the third will be in good condition for much longer.

Radnor Lily Gagea bohemnica - my first plant twitch

The surrounding rocky outcrops also contained a number of different fern species including Maidenhair Spleenwort Asplenium trichomanes and Black Spleenwort Asplenium adiantum-nigrum, both are a common and widespread species of rocky crevices and walls.

Black Spleenwort Asplenium adiantum-nigrum

Primrose Primula vulgaris

Barren Strawberry Rust Phragmidium fragariae

In the woodlands which surround the upper slopes of the hill a few other flowers had come into flower, a few Primrose Primula vulgaris had opened their soft yellow blooms, which will provide and early feast for early pollinators. 

Another common species often flowers early is the Barren Strawberry Potentilla steralis  which was found along with its rust Phragmidium fragariae which grows over the leaves and stems (something else I'd never found before).

Barren Strawberry Potentilla steralis

Although there was very little flower in on the site due to the season it was worth it to see the Radnor Lily in flower and I look forward to wandering around later in the spring when some of the sites other rare species should be in flower.

The view from the top of Stanner Rocks looking north-west