Tuesday 18 October 2016

Guest post - roses in Montgomeryshire

When member (and regular recorder) Ruth Dawes sent me some lovely photographs, I thought more people would like to see them... and then she wrote me a guest article on the event in question. Big thanks to Ruth - and if anyone else would like a "guest post" on this blog please just send me an article and some photos!

Ruth writes:

Kate Thorne’s Botanical Workshop for Montgomeryshire Flora Group  on 11th October 2016 

A dozen intrepid botanists came from the west (Wales and borders) to Church Pulverbatch in the foothills of the Long Mynd and Stiperstones in Shropshire.  This delightful remote village is recorded in the Domesday Book and is believed to be the site of a prehistoric fort.  There was to be no traversing the ankle twisting rocks of the Stiperstones ridge today.  Our aim was to study Rosa, Chenopodiaceae and other groups.  We were warmly welcomed into Kate and John Thorne’s lovely farmhouse kitchen, where we had delicious coffee made in Kate’s new milk frother machine.   As this was accompanied by Sylvia Backhouse’s seed, fruit and quality cocoa rondels, Sue Southam’s cheese straws and M&S chocolate biscuits; here was a taste of what was to come.

Soon we were immersed in specimens and Kate’s excellent handouts.  Kate’s long term knowledge of the genera was imparted in an easy informal manner, ably assisted by retired husband, John, a talented gardener, who had grown numerous wild roses from cuttings.   Fresh specimens were regularly brought in from the garden in case we should start chatting again instead of working.  Gradually we separated out the dog roses from the downy roses and the sweet briars; even if our noses weren’t refined enough to detect apple (sweet briar) or Cherry Blossom boot polish (downy).  Technical terms were patiently explained verbally as well as being available on handouts with line drawings.  We learned (or relearned) everything from acicles, through subulate to villous.

At lunchtime, a veritable feast appeared before us.  Not only Kate and John’s homemade tomato and lentil and potato and lovage soups, but also hot pizzas and miniature savoury flans for starters, quickly followed by salads, turkey, cheeses and artisan bread, chutneys  and pickles, provided by numerous talented people in the group.  We finished with a Rosa and Rubus cake made by Ruth, washed down with Appletize, complete with a toast from Steve to Kate for her birthday on the 12th.  We managed a reasonable rendering of Happy Birthday both in English and Welsh too.  At last we were allowed out and Max the lurcher was delighted to join in the fun.  We practiced again outside in the garden.  (I couldn’t help admiring the way Kate coped with this big garden, not to mention playing church organ and ringing the bells when John was still working as a GP in Shetland.) 
Serving the Appletize

Ruth's Rosa and Rubus cake

We then needed to walk off some of the ubiquitous food so we pottered off to a nearby field (with permission) to see superb fresh specimens of Orobanche minor parasitic on agricultural red clover planted for winter sheep feed.  It was a real surprise to see the Common Broomrape looking so fresh.
Orobanche minor parasitic on agricultural red clover

After admiring the hilly view of south Shropshire, we were ushered back to focus on aquatics, arable weeds and Atriplex.  A big specimen of Potamogeton polygonifolius taught us not to rely on size of leaves alone for ID of this species and various tips about veins and hinges or lack of the latter were passed round.  We noted that Petty Spurge had petioles, which was handy to remember.

Finally Steve Attwood-Wright produced some of his splendid samples of colourful, expertly woven cloth and produced an FSC laminated guide to explain how he hoped to work on some patterns with fine botanical detail.
Steve demonstrating his colourful woven cloth and ideas for future fine botanical detail


Many thanks to Kate and John for a superb day.  I have since spotted Rosa tomentosa at a new site so the retraining worked.

Wednesday 5 October 2016

Dryopteris and more over the weekend

Despite a most inclement weather forecast, sixteen intrepid pteridologists joined the workshop this weekend. Most of the group joined Fred Rumsey on Friday evening for an introductory talk, but I met them on Saturday morning, after driving through pouring rain to Glydyr forest. For many of us the key aim was to become more confident with the Dryopteris affinis agg., and the first site did not disappoint as we rapidly saw D. filix-mas (for comparison), followed by D. affinis, D. borreri and D. cambrensis, then \D. oreades, and plenty more to compare. D. dilatata was also in this site, bringing the species (of Dryopteris) count to six!

Fred Rumsey explaining the characters of Dryopteris affinis (Scaly Male-fern)
Having found all the Dryopteris in the area, we also visited an old mine site, and saw this curious plant.
Asplenium septentrionale (Forked Spleenwort)
After a very damp lunch, and thoroughly drippy, we decided we had seen all we were likely to see in the area, and returned to Plas Tan-y-Bwlch for the benefits of a drying room, hot cups of tea, and a nice dry study room, in which to study the specimens of the morning (as well as an extensive collection of Dryopteris brought by Fred and by Helena Crouch). It proved much easier to use a hand-lens in the study room, and after dinner we were rewarded for our hard work with a fascinating after-dinner slideshow from Fred, about the many species and hybrids of Dryopteris. 
The workroom with many specimens of Dryopteris. 
Next day we were glad to wake to clear blue skies and a cold autumnal feel in the air, as we started our day with a visit to Coed Ganllwyd, where we saw Dryopteris aemula (Hay-scented Buckler-fern) and also both species of Hymenophyllum (Filmy-ferns). This was a beautiful example of the Welsh rainforest - Atlantic oak woodland simply dripping with spray from the waterfall, and covered with ferns and bryophytes.
Dryopteris aemula (Hay-scented Buckler-fern)
Botanists by the waterfall
We then had a drive over to another completely contrasting site, on Eglwyseg Rocks, where we walked up a steep and narrow path in bright warm sunshine, to see Dryopteris submontana (Rigid Buckler-fern) within a small area of limestone.  This baked dry site is another very special one and we also took a quick look at Sorbus cuneifolia (Llangollen Whitebeam) growing nearby.
Botanists walking across limestone scree
Dryopteris submontana (Rigid Buckler-fern)
Sorbus  cuneifolia (Llangollen Whitebeam)
It proved to be a great weekend, with such contrasting sites, and plenty of ferns. The grand total came to eight species of Dryopteris, six species of Asplenium, and a further 11 species, bringing us to 25 ferns in total. 

This workshop was very popular, and there was a long waiting list, so we hope to run it again next year. Priority may well be given to those who tried to book but were unable to get a place this year.