Back with National Park ranger Shaun on Thursday afternoon for what might be entitled “Wild flowers part 2”. In fact it was the hay meadows walk to Barrowburn, a site of special scientific interest, because of the quality of its meadows.
The drive to Wedder Leap car park was worth the price of admission on its own. Seven miles or so beyond Alwinton, we drove on a single-track road, with the M.O.D. ranges on our left, through some of the finest scenery Northumberland has to offer. And you just have to drive slowly – the sheep aren’t scared of cars around here.
My camera was clicking as soon as I got out of the the car park:
This was the shortest of our walks. Shaun carefully slowed us down, feeding us with information and stories and gently built the expectation of what we were about to see.
In a short few hundred yards I could not believe how many species we had encountered – yellow rattle, germander speedwell, eyebright, pignut, cow parsley, the various buttercups, heath bedstraw, water forget-me-not, red and white clovers, zig-zag clover, sorrel, yarrow , birds-foot trefoil, pineapple weed, great plantain, lady’s smock, meadow vetch and eyebright. These were some I remember.
We also encountered a family of wheatears, obliging us by flitting back and forward between fence-posts and the parallel dry-stone wall.
Insects too: we had a close look at a green-veined white butterfly before Shaun, with a deft turn of speed, captured a small-heath butterfly in his collecting jar.
My knowledge of the emerald-green pot-bellied beetle continues to grow, as today we found their eggs on the underside of dock leaves. It was too windy for the adult insects, explained Shaun – they would have blown off and would climb back up later.
And to the climax of our walk. A few more species for our list – in the meadow were some stunning wood cranesbill and a few ox-eye daisies, as well as buttercups, pignut and yellow rattle.
The sea of movement of thousands of flower in the gusty wind was an amazing sight. Photos cannot capture it – perhaps I should have found out how to work the video on my new camera! If you get the chance over the next couple of week go to Barrowburn – you’ll not be disappointed. And if you get caught in a heavy shower as we did at the end of our viewing, there’s a very handy tea-room to dry off in.
Pedometer: 2,250 (cumulative 53,160)
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