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U3A Botany Group - August 2019 (2)
by Trevor Kay - 17:20 on 30 August 2019
Tuesday 28th August saw the final botany group outing of 2019. A very respectable number of members, (ten), met at the RSPB Hobbister car park for what proved to be a very productive afternoon.
Initially, the afternoon was sunny and warm with a rare lack of wind which led to a fine feasting day for the local midge population as we headed down the track towards Scapa Flow. Latterly the weather changed slightly and we experienced a welcome breeze which dissipated the evil blood sucking insects, much to the relief of those amongst us who seem to attract the vile creatures.
Our afternoon plant hunting was surprisingly successful and we recorded over fifty different plants. Not bad for the end of the season.
The main complaint of the day was the lack of a nearby coffee or ice cream shop at the end of our two - hour plant hunt. Oh well, one can’t have everything.
The plants we recorded were:
Angelica, Arctic eyebright, Autumn hawkbit, Bell heather, Bittersweet, Blaeberry, Bog asphodel, Bristle club-rush, Broad buckler fern, Bush vetch, Cat’s ear, Common cotton grass, Creeping buttercup, Creeping thistle, Cross-leaved heath, Daisy, Deer-grass, Devil’s-bit scabious, Eared willow, Flag iris, Goldenrod, Hard fern, Hare’s- tail cotton grass, Heath rush, Hogweed, Jointed rush, Lady fern, Lesser spearwort, Ling, Lousewort, Marsh thistle, Marsh willowherb, Marsh woundwort, Meadow vetchling, Meadowsweet, Milkwort, Mouse-ear hawkweed, Procumbent pearlwort, Ragwort, Red clover, Ribwort plantain, Rosebay willowherb, Selfheal, Soft rush, Sorrell, Spearwort, Sphagnum moss, St John’s wort sp., Stinging nettle, Toadflax sp., Tormentil, Viviparous fescue, Woodrush, Woody nightshade, Yorkshire fog grass.
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