meadows and moorland

Some pictures from this week's meadow surveys below. The survey season is in full swing now. Highlights from this week include:
finding Alchemilla subcrenata new to Northumberland, and a very nice patch of herby M26 mire in a field on the same farm; finding a new site for Euphrasia rostkoviana subsp. montana; and surveying the meadows at Widdybank Farm. The meadows there are well know for their rarities including several arctic alpines. I managed to spot several of these but seeing these plants is still not as exciting as finding a special plant in an unexpected (and unknown) place.

Primula farinosa by a stream through a meadow in Upper Teesdale

Geum rivale in a damp meadow at Widdybank Farm, Upper Teesdale

Teeswater sheep on a farm in Lunedale

A stand of Trollius europaeus in a meadow in Upper Teesdale

Briza media flower just coming out, on a species-rich bank near Alston, South Tynedale.

I just spent the weekend in Perthshire helping Clare with a moorland NVC survey. Lots of cloudberry flowering in M19 and H22 vegetation. Apparently H22 is a good place to search for Cornus suecica. Maybe Clare will find it next week! It was about an hour and a half walk in to the site she was surveying and we did spot some Trientalis europaea alongside the track on the way in. Neither of us had seen this plant before. It looks like it would be very easy to miss among the Vaccinium if it was not in flower.
Trientalis europaea under bilberry in Perthshire

John