Field visit to Beeston Common (28 June 2010)

Beeston

Beeston

Beeston

Beeston

Beeston

Beeston

Orchid

Beeston

Beeston

Beeston

Beeston

It clashed with the England world cup game against Germany, but 16 very wise people turned up at Beeston Common instead to a much more enjoyable afternoon with Simon Harrap! (www.norfolknature.co.uk)  

Before we started the walk Simon explained the geology of the area. Sand and gravel overlay boulder clay which in turn is on top of a very deep layer of water-holding chalk. These reserves of water help reduce the need for hosepipe bans in low rainfall Norfolk. Water sinks through the sand and gravel and where it comes out on a series of spring lines depends on whether it is nutrient-rich acid soil or nutrient-poor alkaline soil. The entrance to the common has neutral soil with lush vegetation, high grasses and nettles, but the real interest lay beyond on the shorter alkaline bogs (although interestingly in the middle of the alkaline bogs were mounds of acid earth topped by crossed-leaved heaths).  

We were introduced to an abundance of ‘worts’ – plants attributed with many medicinal properties, many dubiously so, according to Simon. The mind boggles as to how the semi-parasitic lousewort was used! The lesser stitchwort was there, a rarer version of its hedgerow cousin, and the greater spearwort around the pond, an ornamental species originally.  

On to the orchids – the common spotted orchid was there in its thousands and lived up to its name, but at this point the magnifying glass came out and we saw how the orchid flower had twisted itself upside down to present the larger petal at the bottom so as to provide a landing stage for passing insects. The marsh helleborines were also there in abundance but others were still to bloom.  

What else? Well, we spotted the great sundew and the round-leaved sundew in the same place ready to trap and devour their insect prey and also the common butterwort (yes, another wort) which prefers to depend on its stickiness. Simon also broached the tricky subject of all those yellow dandelion-looking flowers. Thankfully the rough hawkbit can be identified with confidence. If you look at its tiny leaf hairs under a magnifying glass the ends are forked – the only one that does that. So now you know!  

Past the pretty bog pimpernels, the black bog rush, the silver weed, the low hedge bedstraw, the toad rush and finally to a patch of different ferns. What a wonderful afternoon where we learnt so much in such a short time.

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