Author Topic: Wild flowers  (Read 116120 times)

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Offline Nemesis

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #120 on: September 11, 2011, 02:04:22 pm »
Yes many times-- earlier in the year there are plenty to be found, especially the Pyramidal Orchid.
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Offline stephenprudence

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #121 on: September 11, 2011, 07:25:41 pm »
Great stuff - one of the things Ive never seen is a wild orchid  :o


Offline Michael

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #122 on: September 11, 2011, 11:22:29 pm »
I would'nt know an orchid if I stood on one, but I do know an area on my golf course where there was a lot of interest last May and early June. Lots of flower followers with cameras. I've been warned----cut the grass around there at your peril Mike

Offline Nemesis

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #123 on: September 12, 2011, 09:30:02 am »
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to know.

Offline Blodyn

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #124 on: September 12, 2011, 11:14:43 am »
Stephen, I'm afraid I've not noticed any currant or blueberry plants growing wild around here.  You'll have to make do with blackberries!  As well as the pyramidal orchids which Nemesis mentioned, the early purple and common spotted orchids are relatively plentiful.  One of the reasons that the Great Orme has such a diverse flora is that it's mostly a big lump of limestone, which supports a particular range of species, but also has pockets of acidic soil which support the heathland
species. It's rare to get such a mixture of basic and acidic soils and it's suggested that the acidic soil was left after the last ice age.   

Mike, one of my friends told me the spring that you had green winged orchids at the golf course but I didn't get there to see them myself.  Ask the lady with the dog, she'll be able to tell you all about them. 

Nemesis, would you recommend the leaflet?  It certainly sounds interesting.

Hollins, they're not my photos.  A year or two ago there was a student called Chris (if I remember correctly) doing a placement at the Country Park.  He was a keen photographer and I've seen some of his photos, which were excellent, so they could well be his. 

Offline stephenprudence

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #125 on: September 13, 2011, 11:11:33 pm »
I'll have a look when I'm next around the Orme.. I wonder if the Orme has any winter flowering plants, might be a rarity somewhere.

Very lucky to have acidic and limestone soils, no wonder some garden plants naturalise like crazy around Llandudno!

Offline Blodyn

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #126 on: September 27, 2011, 02:14:18 pm »
Stephen, the strawberry trees (Arbutus) are (mostly) alive and well in the Haulfre Gardens area. 

There are at least two on the path between the public toilets and Mike's golf course (nice to have seen you today, Mike).  Further up in the wilder area of the gardens there are a lot more and the first photo shows two large specimens. 

At the top, by one of the boundary fences, there are quite a few which look dead, as shown in the second photo.  However, I think that it's not a bad as it looks as it may be branches rather than whole trees which are dead. 

There is also regeneration from dead-looking stumps, as in the foreground of the third photo. 

Offline Blodyn

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #127 on: September 27, 2011, 02:20:02 pm »
Continuing with the strawberry trees ...

There are quite a number of young plants and seedlings (first photo here), particularly on the hillside above the gardens, so the tree seems to be colonising the hillside. 

There's a combination of flowers, unripe and ripening fruits at the moment (last two photos) and it was good to see bumblebees visiting the flowers. 

Offline Blodyn

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #128 on: September 27, 2011, 02:44:54 pm »
There are plenty of carline thistles on the Great Orme at the moment, particularly in the rocky areas and where the grass is shorter.  They may look as  if they're dead but they look pretty much the same even when the flowers first open! 

I've now got a copy of the "Great Orme Wild Flowers" leaflet which Nemesis told us about recently.  It has lovely photos of a selection of (mostly) flowers from each of the main habitats and, as Nemesis said, a chart showing when they flower and a map showing where the different habitats can be found.  With something like 400 flowering plants on the Orme, a book would be needed to cover them all.  However, for someone who's new to the area or just starting to learn about wild flowers, this leaflet would be an ideal introduction to the more common or obvious flowers - but be prepared for finding flowers which don't match any of the pictures.  Would you agree, Nemesis? 

Offline Nemesis

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #129 on: September 27, 2011, 06:35:28 pm »
Yes I agree Blodyn, an excellent leaflet, but as you say, it could not possibly cover everything to be found on the Orme.
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to know.

Offline Pendragon

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #130 on: September 27, 2011, 07:08:54 pm »
I love this thread  $good$

Llinos and I went up Penmaenmawr mountain again on Monday and whilst looking in earnest for any traces of Braich Y Dinas came across these lovely little wild flowers but in true Angie style I have no clue what any are called.  I particularly like the first pic of the little pink and white flower.

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Angiegram - A romantic notion derived from the more mundane truth.

Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for." -Bob Marley

Offline Pendragon

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #131 on: September 27, 2011, 07:15:25 pm »
I also took the following photo of a black mushroom? Never seen one before there was loads of them everywhere.  I did go picking wild mushroom years ago but that variety resulted in uncontrollable giggles and now the only place i get mushrooms is Asda  ;D
Only hindsight has 20/20 vision
Angiegram - A romantic notion derived from the more mundane truth.

Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for." -Bob Marley

Offline hollins

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #132 on: September 27, 2011, 07:18:57 pm »
I love that photo too of the pink and white flowers in the rock wall. It looks like a little bouquet. How beautiful!

Offline Pendragon

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #133 on: September 27, 2011, 07:31:02 pm »
It was tiny Hollins, if I remember rightly it was a little bigger than a tea light candle.
Only hindsight has 20/20 vision
Angiegram - A romantic notion derived from the more mundane truth.

Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for." -Bob Marley

Offline Blodyn

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #134 on: September 27, 2011, 09:37:19 pm »
Those are both beautiful little flowers, Pendragon, and the top photo is really lovely. 

The first flower is a stonecrop - they're very hardy little plants, usually growing in dry, rocky areas - and it looks like the English stonecrop (though it's not confined to England). 

The second flower is eyebright, which is one of my favourite late summer flowers.  There are lots of different species and hybrids which differ only slightly and I can't tell them apart, so I just enjoy them!