Hi Folks. Posting this is the wrong section, as usual, as I am unable to post it in the correct one.

Myself and Craig Levy have recently taken a meander through Parkside Pasture looking at wildflowers. Unusually for Parkside, it's not being grazed by sheep untill slightly later on in the year - so now was a good time to take a look at what's in there.

The good news is that we counted 38 species NOT including grasses, mosses, rushses, sedges etc. These included: Spring Vetch, Kidney Vetch, Greater Knapweed, Harebell, Field Scabious, and Common Spotted Orchid. I'm happy to supply the list to anyone who is interested.

The plan is to introduce a few sheep at the end of July with a larger number coming on in September once most plants have gone to seed.

Jon

Jon - thanks for that. I would be very interested in a list please.

Have you done a similar walk round the pit top? The orchids were grand, and I'm confused about what they all were. They are gone now but loads of other flowers there.
Gill

Gill

Hi, hope you are well.

If you can phone in your address to me at the office I will send you a copy. If we had taken a walk through Parkside earlier on in the year then we'd probably have come across even more species.

The orchids out on the pit-tip are Common Spotted and Southern Marsh. Confusingly these two hybridise with each other creating quite a wide variety of appearance. Flowering a bit later is the Pyramidal Orchid - these are further out on the pit-tip and away from the main paths.

All the best Gill.

Jon

Thanks Jon - will do.
Gill