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The sward is rich with sedges, grasses and an assortment of herbs and flowers The sward is rich with sedges, grasses and an assortment of herbs and flowers
(2 months later)
The sun is hammering Wharfedale, the air is still and exertion is uncomfortable. Perhaps the fishermen clustered around the lakes, casually snaking flies across the water, have the right idea. Scoured clean by glaciers 10,000 years ago, the green mantle of the valley is still frayed, bald patches of ashen limestone show through on the slopes and shoulders. This is a big landscape, a broad expanse, not mountainous but rugged. Kilnsey Crag is reminiscent of the overhanging cliffs that edge limestone valleys in southern France.The sun is hammering Wharfedale, the air is still and exertion is uncomfortable. Perhaps the fishermen clustered around the lakes, casually snaking flies across the water, have the right idea. Scoured clean by glaciers 10,000 years ago, the green mantle of the valley is still frayed, bald patches of ashen limestone show through on the slopes and shoulders. This is a big landscape, a broad expanse, not mountainous but rugged. Kilnsey Crag is reminiscent of the overhanging cliffs that edge limestone valleys in southern France.
The grass on the valley floor provides good grazing, but despite its superficial attractiveness it has been "improved" and has lost its once stunning bounty of wild flowers. One fragment has escaped the fertilisers and herbicides. Among the springs and streams of Kilnsey Park is a gem of a site. Saved by the slopes, hillocks and boggy patches, the little meadow was too much trouble to "improve". The sward is rich with sedges, delicate grasses and an assortment of herbs and flowers. Most impressive are the orchids: hundreds of thick, pink candles projecting from the green swaddling. The common spotted orchids, predominantly white with little purple dots, abound alongside velvety purple northern marsh orchids, and shorter, pale orangey-pink early marsh orchids. Marsh helleborines are scattered in one area of the field; the loose, drooping sprays of green buds soon to provide the next splash of colour.The grass on the valley floor provides good grazing, but despite its superficial attractiveness it has been "improved" and has lost its once stunning bounty of wild flowers. One fragment has escaped the fertilisers and herbicides. Among the springs and streams of Kilnsey Park is a gem of a site. Saved by the slopes, hillocks and boggy patches, the little meadow was too much trouble to "improve". The sward is rich with sedges, delicate grasses and an assortment of herbs and flowers. Most impressive are the orchids: hundreds of thick, pink candles projecting from the green swaddling. The common spotted orchids, predominantly white with little purple dots, abound alongside velvety purple northern marsh orchids, and shorter, pale orangey-pink early marsh orchids. Marsh helleborines are scattered in one area of the field; the loose, drooping sprays of green buds soon to provide the next splash of colour.
Minute orchid seeds do not contain enough resources to start a new plant. Only by forming an alliance with a soil fungus willing to give the orchid a start in life can they germinate. It is thought that marsh helleborine shares its fungus partner with the lady's slipper orchid. Hence this fabled rarity has been introduced into the field in the hope that it will proliferate and provide a genetic reservoir should anything happen to the last remaining wild plant. So far so good: the introduced plants are flourishing, several flowered well this spring, and everyone is waiting to see if they will reproduce.Minute orchid seeds do not contain enough resources to start a new plant. Only by forming an alliance with a soil fungus willing to give the orchid a start in life can they germinate. It is thought that marsh helleborine shares its fungus partner with the lady's slipper orchid. Hence this fabled rarity has been introduced into the field in the hope that it will proliferate and provide a genetic reservoir should anything happen to the last remaining wild plant. So far so good: the introduced plants are flourishing, several flowered well this spring, and everyone is waiting to see if they will reproduce.
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