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Tag Archives: heather in bloom

Conwy Mountain

19 Thursday Jul 2012

Posted by theresagreen in Nature, nature photography, Snowdonia National Park, wildflowers

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

bell heather, bog asphodel, Conwy mountain, erica cinerea, foxglove, heather in bloom, heathland, medicinal uses of plants, plants poisonous to animals

Conwy Mountain is beautiful now, it’s rocky cliffs and crags are coloured and softened with masses of pink/purple heather and the lower slopes are clothed with a mantle of ferny green bracken.

Heather softens the rocky limestone cliffs of the mountain

Heather is mixed with gorse which is just beginning to open its flowers

Bell Heather- Erica cinerea

Erica cinerea – Bell heather, is a species of heather that is native to western and central Europe. It is a low shrub growing to 15–60 centimetres (5.9–24 in) tall, with fine needle-like leaves 4–8 millimetres (0.16–0.31 in) long arranged in whorls of three.

The plant’s common name is taken from its pink/purple bell-shaped flowers that are 4–7 millimetres (0.16–0.28 in) long, and produced during mid to late summer.

This species occurs mainly on dry heaths where the soil is acidic or peaty; it tends not to be found in wetter places, where it is likely to be replaced by the similar-looking Cross-leaved Heath, Erica tetralix. Its growth is not as large or dense as that of common heather or ling.

PRACTICAL USES

Bell heather has been used extensively over centuries in a wide variety of ways, including use as bedding material for both livestock and people. Bundles of the dried stems have been used to make brooms and to thatch roofs; it has been burnt as fuel, wound into ropes and used to repair holes in tracks and roads.

TRADITIONAL MEDICINAL USES

Heather has a long history of  use in traditional or folk medicine. In particular it is a good urinary antiseptic and diuretic, disinfecting the urinary tract and mildly increasing urine production.

Part used : flowers
Uses : Particularly used for urinary infections.
Antiseptic, Cholagogue, Depurative, Diaphoretic, Diuretic, Expectorant, Sedative, Vasoconstrictor

Heather and gorse shrubbery accented by spikes of foxgloves

Foxgloves that have flowered prolifically this year are still bearing flowers at the tips of their elongated stems.

Foxgloves open their flowers starting with those at the lower end of the stem, which continues to lengthen.

The heather-covered rocky slopes give way to bracken at their base. Grasses and other plants surround the pool creating a rich tapestry of lush vegetation

The large mountain pool is currently full to overflowing and the ground for some distance around it is soft and boggy, with large pools of surface water covering the walking tracks. On what would have been the edge of the pool a few weeks ago, I was excited to spot some spikes of Bog Asphodel. I wanted to get a photograph of  them of course, but they were now surrounded by water and very boggy mud. I managed to get fairly close to them, but as there was no way I was going to kneel to put myself on a level with them, the resulting picture is not as clear as I would have liked, but you get the general impression.

Bog Asphodel –

Bog Asphodel – Narthecium ossifragum

A fascinating and unusual plant that grows in short wet grassland on acid soils, Bog Asphodel has bright yellow flowers with six narrow widely-spaced petals and six long stamens that are surrounded by yellow hairs, like a miniature bottle-brush, with a prominent orange anther on top.

There were just a few flowers to be found here, but in other places where the appropriate habitat occurs, during July and August carpets of the deep orange yellow flowers may be seen, to be replaced later in September by a carpet of orange and russet-brown as the flowers fruit.

Despite the plant’s English name, it is not particularly closely related to the true asphodels. The Latin name means “weak bone”, and refers to a traditional belief that eating the plant caused sheep to develop brittle bones.

In Northern climes it was once used a yellow hair dye and as a cheap substitute for saffron.

Bog Asphodel may be poisonous to both sheep and cattle, although not all stands of the plant are toxic, and the toxicity may be the side effect of the plant’s response to a fungal infection. However, affected plants , if ingested, cause serious kidney problems and a photosensitive disorder which is variously called ‘alveld’ (elf-fire), in Norway; ‘saut’ in Cumbria; and ‘plochteach’, ‘yellowses’ and ‘head greet’ in Scotland that are brought about by tri-saccaride saponins, ‘narcethin’ being the major one. 

Waxcaps

A real surprise was to find this little collection of mushrooms, which I’m fairly sure from mushroom forages in Spain, are Chanterelle’s, but not sure enough to risk picking them!

Spear Thistle – Cirsium vulgare

And finally, thistles.

Cotton Thistle – Onopordum acanthium

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A walk on the Great Orme

27 Saturday Aug 2011

Posted by theresagreen in coastal walks, Great Orme, Nature, Nature of Wales, North Wales, North Wales Wildlife Trust, Wildflowers of Wales

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Tags

bell heather, carline thistle, heather in bloom, jackdaw, limestone heath, ling, Little Orme, rabbit, views of Llandudno

The Great Orme is a prominent headland, which lies at the north-western tip of the Creuddyn Peninsula near Llandudno. Conwy County Borough Council as a Country Park and Local Nature Reserve manages most of the site, and this comprises a headland of Carboniferous limestone of some 291 hectares (719 acres) which rises from sea level to 207m (679 feet) at the summit.

5/8/11-The Great Orme under a beautiful sky

The weather has been very unpredictable lately, so I took advantage of a mostly sunny afternoon to explore some of the Little Orme’s big brother – the Great Orme. This much larger promontory has a very different character and has a fascinating history. Parts of it are used commercially to provide leisure activities for visitors to Llandudno town, but most of the Great Orme is designated a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) as it contains habitats and species which are considered to be rare or threatened within Europe. It is also a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and is included in both the Nature Conservation Review and Geological Conservation Review, indicating its national importance. The site is also designated a Heritage Coast, a definition denoting a landscape quality of national importance.

5/8/11-A welsh rabbit out in the afternoon sun

From the car park at the top where the ‘toboggan run’ is located, I walked across to the path that takes you up onto the open clifftops to admire the views over Llandudno towards the Little Orme and out across the Irish Sea.

5/8/11-A view of Llandudno curving around the bay and the hills beyond
5/8/11-Llandudno Pier and across to the Little Orme
5/8/11-The Little Orme’s best side

Quarrying activity on the Little Orme was restricted to the Rhos-on-Sea side of it so as not to spoil the view from the resort of Llandudno, as I have mentioned before. I have photographed it often from that side, but less so from its natural, unspoilt side, which looks very different.

There wasn’t much to be found on the clifftops today, I saw just one Meadow Brown butterfly, but I did come across a Carline Thistle. It was just a small specimen, but the only one I’ve come across in the area so far.

Carline Thistle

Carline Thistle is interesting as its flower heads expand in dry weather and close in moist weather. The dried flowers will continue to do this for a long time and they thus form a basic hygrometer for use in weather forecasting.

There is a choice of paths to follow, including one to the summit, but I decided to walk in the direction of St. Tudno’s church. It was beautiful walking in the bright late afternoon sunshine on the grassy track through heathland that is presently a living patchwork of green, purple and gold. It was peaceful too – I was the only person there and the only other sign of life I had was a Meadow Pipit that flew up from near the edge of the track and startled me.

Limestone Heath

The heathland on the Great Orme is of international importance and occupies approximately one quarter of the site. Dominant species are the dwarf shrubs; Heather, Bell Heather and Western Gorse.

5/8/11-Great Orme -Heather-Calluna vulgaris& Western Gorse-Ulex gallii

About one third of the heathland is species-rich and amongst the dwarf shrubs many lime-lime-loving (calcicolous) herbs grow, such as Common Rockrose, Dropwort, Wild Thyme and Birds-foot Trefoil. This species-rich heath tends to be short (35cm height or lower). Another third of the heath is less species-rich, supporting herbs such as Tormentil and Harebell.

5/8/11-In places the heather & gorse extends to the edge of the cliffs

It was too late to walk all the way to the church today, but I will definitely be back to complete the route soon.

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‘But it is the common species that keep the living world ticking over and provide most of our experiences of wildlife, and I would argue that maintaining the abundance of these is as important a conservation priority as maintaining the existence of rarities’. Richard Mabey

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