Thistle BroomrapeAfter a recce the previous week had suggested that our original destination of Ripon Loop YWT reserve would not be suitable in wet weather, we changed our plans and instead visited Quarry Moor Nature Reserve near Ripon and Bishop Monkton Railway Cutting, another YWT reserve quite nearby.
Some last minute cancellations resulted in Eric leading a reduced party of 10 people who travelled in the minibus to Ripon. The highlight of Quarry Moor is Thistle Broomrape, a species found only in Yorkshire in the UK and therefore also known as Yorkshire Broomrape. We found quite a few examples of this parasitic plant. Quarry Moor is situated on the magnesian limestone and a good range of limestone flowers was found including bugle and crosswort in abundance, common twayblade, common spotted orchid, yellow rattle and jacob's ladder. At Bishop Monkton we found white and black bryony, barren and wild strawberry, tutsan and columbine amongst many other plant species seen on the day. A fox was sighted on the path ahead, but soon scampered off when he realised he'd been spotted.
ComfreyThe weather was showery and cloudy all day and we were therefore lucky to see one solitary common blue butterfly which had braved the elements together with a few moths. Bird activity was not great but we did record 23 different species during the day, including yellowhammer, skylark, oystercatcher, curlew, willow warbler and chiffchaff.
The management of Morrison's in Ripon allowed us to use their car park for the minibus provided that we gave their cafe some trade and most of the party treated themselves to a light lunch there.
We all felt that we had made the most of a poor weather day and returned to Bradford in good spirits.
Stuart