A Walk with botanist Sarah Eno

 

We ambled through the Whitrig and Chirnton parts of the estate woodland, finding a very varied mix of ash, oak, alder, birch and lots of new planting of native species, including aspen (populus tremula), cherry, willow, rowan, hazel, oak and lime. We met many trees of great character, including a silver fir, likely to be 200 years or so old. In Chirnton we saw the occasional animal track – deer or badger perhaps?

This is a good time of year to see many species of sedge, grasses, ferns, mosses and wild flowers. Nice finds were the northern marsh orchid, sweet woodruff, stitchwort, bugle, the marsh and the melancholy thistle. How intriguing some namings are. We saw eco systems at work on various scales, nature showing her ability to re-colonise; for example, mossy beds on fallen trees, creating sites for many seeding plants, also the great root system of an ancient scots pine, playing host to many plants. The pignut is a sign of grass unaffected by fertiliser – a rare find nowadays.

The atmosphere varied from warm, damp fragrance (especially from the May blossom) to the cool, damp, resinous quality of the conifer area. In all, a very tranquil landscape, a rare and precious natural asset.

Summary of interesting native plants
Some 175 species have been recorded to date, with the real number probably well over 200.

Among the more interesting are:
Trees - birch, ash, oak, elm, alder (the oak probably only represented by planted trees).
 The ash are quite well colonised by the liverwort, Frullania tamarisci.
Shrubs - bird cherry, hawthorn, goat willow, grey willow, rowan.

Herbs etc. (selected species) - hard shield-fern, moschatel, ladies mantle (Alchemilla glabra only), wood anemone, lords and ladies, the sedges Carex caryophyllea and C. sylvatica, opposite and alternate-leaved golden saxifrage, pignut, marsh hawksbeard, wild strawberry, woodruff, wood cranesbill, marestail, hairy St. John’s-wort, hairy woodrush, dogs mercury, three-veined sandwort, burnet saxifrage, primrose, goldilocks buttercup, greater stitchwort, marsh valerian, common valerian, northern marsh orchid, hazel, ladies bedstraw, bluebell, yellow iris, ox-eye daisy, creeping jenny (introduced deliberately), crab apple, red-berried elder (introduced by birds) and zig-zag clover.
(taken from two reports and botanical surveys by M.E. and P.F.Braithwaite)