Common Toadflax, Linaria vulgaris

Another flower seen all over the headland now is Yarrow, Achillea millefolium. It is usually white but can also have pink flowers.

Yarrow, Achillea millefolium

The volunteers have been trying to reduce the amounts of Ragwort, Senecio jacobaea. This attractive plant is unfortunately very poisonous to cattle and horses, so when the grass is cut and used for bedding it can cause a problem.

Ragwort, Senecio jacobaea

Another attractive yellow flower, but seen less frequently here, is Perforate St John’s Wort, Hypericum perforatum, it’s related to the many garden varieties and is also well known as a treatment for depression. The strange name (perforate) refers to the white oil glands that can be seen on the leaves. They look like holes when you put the leaves against the light.

Perforate St Jon’s Wort, Hypericum perforatum

Peering at some smaller plants in the undergrowth I came across another weird insect – a Harvestman. It’s a sort of spider, but not quite a spider, because it’s body just consists of one piece, technically it’s a separate group – Opiliones). Anyone who knows what it is please let me know! It was climbing around amongst the berries of Wild Madder . Just had to be included.

A Harvestman among berries of Wild Madder, Rubia peregrina (click for  a larger image)

All over Church Hill – and to a lesser extent on Wains Hill you will see the yellow flowers of Wild Radish and Sea Radish. They are now producing fruits which are quite distinctive.

Sea Radish, Raphanus raphanistrum ssp maritima

This Sea Radish plant was right down near the shore, another plant seen on the cliff side and close to the shore is Rock Samphire, very much a seaside plant with thick fleshy leaves. It is can be seen growing on walls near the beach in Clevedon.

Rock samphire, Crithmum maritimum

The Hogweed has really established itself everywhere – some plants are up to six feet tall. It is an amazing plant – seems to have a very long flowering season and to grow everywhere. I even saw it flourishing in the Arctic Circle (in Norway)! Insects of all sorts love the flowers and are having a field day (that’s when it’s warm and sunny enough for them to fly at all!).

Click on any photo for an enlargement

Hogweed, Heracleum sphondyllium

The tall rosy pink flowers of Rose Bay Willow Herb, Epilobium angustifolium  and Great Willow Herb, Epilobium hirsutum can also  can be seen on Wain’s Hill, including on the ramparts where the latter is now well established.

Rosebay Willow Herb and Great Willow Herb

A pretty member of the Sage family can be seen beside the pathways – Wood Sage, Teucrium scorodonia. The flowers are easy to miss because they are a pale cream colour but definitely worth a look.

Wood Sage, Teucrium scorodonia

Three other members of the Pea family have made an appearance: Lady’s Bedstraw (Galium verum), Tufted Vetch Vicia cracca and Meadow Vetchling (Lathyrus pratensis).

Tufted Vetch (left) and Lady’s Bedstraw (right), below Meadow Vetchling

On Church Hill there is a lot of Crow Garlic (also known as Wild Onion), Allium vineale. It has a strong smell of garlic and can be a difficult weed to get rid of where it contaminates cereal crops. It has strange ‘flowers’ that often consist entirely of bulbils. They are the equivalent of bulbs that form underground. In the photo below the bulbils are sprouting.

Crow Garlic, Allium vineale.left sprouting bulbils (A Slotte), right bulbils and flowers

All around Clevedon now, you can see the Common Mallow. It certainly brightens up the roads and pathways.

Common Mallow, Malva sylvestris

Apologies for the glitch at the end of the last posting, not sure what happened, but the system doesn’t seem to like large size photos so I will revert to smaller ones. You can always click to enlarge them.

The Rock Rose has appeared up on the Cliff Face just past the Marine Lake section of Poet’s Walk. Also Hairy St John’s Wort which looks like a mini version of the garden – Rose of Sharon.

Rock Rose, Helianthemum chamaecistus

On the other side of the path you can see Broomrape, probably Ivy Broomrape. These weird plants are parasitic on the roots of other plants. They don’t need green leaves as they take sugars from the host plant – just a flowering shoot.

Ivy Broomrape, Orobanche hederae

An unusual addition is Weld, you can see a lot of these plants on the Glebe Field but there are a few specimens on Wain’s Hill. They were used by dyers in the past to produce a yellow dye. Maybe they were cultivated deliberately by the church for this purpose. It’s interesting that the patch of ground where they occur is also rich in two species which have herbal uses; Common Mullein (Verbascum thapsus) and Vervain (Verbena officinalis).

Weld, Reseda luteola

In amongst the grasses you can see extensive clumps of red clover and Beaked Hawk’s Beard, Crepis vesicaria (it has a flower similar to a dandelion but the petals are red underneath and the leaves are finely toothed).

Red Clover and Beaked Hawk’s-beard

The extra large ‘Dandelion clocks’ are the huge fruits of Jack go to bed at Noon (Tragopogon prantensis).

Tragopogon pratensis – fruit

Docks are plentiful all over Wain’s Hill and they come in various shapes and sizes. They are fruiting now and so are becoming more obvious as the fruits turn reddish. One of the more unusual looking ones is the Fiddle Dock, which has leaves shaped like (you guessed it – a fiddle) and strange horizontal branches.

Fiddle Dock, Rumex pulcher

There is also plenty of Broad-leaved Dock (best for nettle stings), especially on Church Hill. If you click on the picture and  look carefully you may spot a couple of matching ladybirds doing their thing!

Broad-leaved Dock, Rumex obtusifolius

Finally a real seaside number – Thrift – now that does make me think of summer.

A wide variety of grasses including Meadow Grass, False Oat and Yorkshire Fog

This is prime hayfever time! The grasses are all flowering and what an amazing variety there are on the headland, they have really taken over at the moment, hiding many of the wild flowers.

Here are a few of the different types:

Left Meadow Grass (Poa sp), centre Cock’s Foot (Dactylis glomerata), right Rye Grass (Lolium sp)

Many of the grasses seem to have intriguing and easy-to remember common names. Here is the Crested Dog Tail and Small Cat’s Tail!

Crested Dog’s Tail and Small Cat’s Tail

The bedstraw family are just starting to flower, the white Hedge bedstraw was the most obvious but Ladies bedstraw (which has yellow flowers) will be along soon. Wild Madder – a much more robust plant – can be seen in the hedge alongside the pathways.

Hedge Bedstraw, Galium mollugo

Wild Madder, Rubia peregrina

Honeysuckle is also flowering in the hedges, much to the delight of the bees which were much in evidence in the sunshine today. They don’t seem to have had too many flying days this month.

Another climbing plant now occupies the shadier sections of the hedge – Black Bryony. This must surely be the inspiration for Jack’s Bean stalk! It has a spike of small yellow flowers. (click to enlarge)

Black Bryony, Tamus communis

Wild Roses and Blackberries are also flowering. The study of both of these could take a lifetime as the hybridise freely and hundreds of varieties are recorded. Here are just two types of Blackberry:

The southern bank of Wain’s Hill facing the Pill is just loaded with flowers and is really worth a visit. The wild thyme is particularly stunning.

Wain’s Hill ramparts

The grasses all over the Headland are now in flower and there is astonishing variety of them. There are also masses of plantains and Sorrels and the tall bright yellow flowers of Beaked Hawk’s Beard (Crepis vesicaria). The male flowers of the Sorrel (Rumex acetosa) can now be seen now, a gentle knock gives showers of pollen. (See the female flowers in the previous post)

Rumex acetosa, male flowers

A new arrival in flower is the Goat’s Beard (I rather prefer the alternative name – ‘Jack go to bed at noon’!).

Goat’s Beard, Tragopogon pratensis

Two Sow Thistles have also made an appearance. No doubt you will be familiar with at least one of them which is a common garden weed – the Smooth Sow Thistle (Sonchus oleraceus). The other has prickly leaves like a soft thistle (Sonchus asper).

Sonchus oleraceus (left) and Sonchus asper (right)

There is plenty of Spotted Medick now and some fruits are appearing. They are really extraordinary – spiral pods with hooked spines. Click to enlarge.

Spotted Medick, Medicago arabica

We were delighted to find a patch of Oxeye Daisies on Church Hill. This flower used to be common here and has been re-introduced by the team.

Oxeye Daisy, Chrisanthemum leucanthemum

Kidney vetch (yellow) and common vetch (purple)

(As usual all photos can be enlarged by clicking)

The Hawthorn is out along Poet’s Walk and a few Elder flowers are starting to appear along the woodland path.

Hawthorn, Crataegus monogynus

Cow Parsley is now everywhere over the Headland, some of the plants have grown immensely tall. It’s much smaller relative, Pignut is now also flowering on the Southern slopes.

Pignut, Conopodium majus

Several members of the Geranium family have now appeared to join Herb Robert which has been flowering for some time.

Dovesfoot Crane’s-bill, Geranium molle

This Crane’s-bill (so called because the fruits resemble a bird’s bill)  is tiny, the flowers often closed so it’s not easy to see, You’ll find it on the edges of paths. The two below are more obvious because the leaves are larger – Cut- leaved Crane’s-bill, Geranium dissectum and Hedgerow Crane’s-bill, Geranium pyrenaicum.

Cut-leaved Crane’s-bill and Hedgerow Crane’s-bill

Two flowers often found on walls are Pennywort, Umbilicus rupestris, and Ivy-leaved Toadflax, Cymbalaria muralis – both can be seen on the Cemetery walls now.

Pennywort and Ivy-leaved Toadflax

While wandering around, I spotted a small white butterfly with (to me) an unusual look about it. A very blurred photo still allowed me to identify it from the Butterfly Conservation site. It was a female Orange Tip -  what a brilliant identification system they have! Definitely worth a visit.

Finally can’t resist adding a Salad Burnet flower. They are pretty weird looking and don’t have any petals – there are male and female flowers on the same head (female at the top – the red stars, male flowers below to prevent self pollination)

Salad Burnet, Sanguisorba minor

Despite the poor weather the bank on Wain’s Hill is now covered in flowers and there are grasses flowering everywhere. Another member of the Pea family was hiding among the long grass – Spotted Medick, Medicago arabica, so called because of the black spots on the leaves.  (All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them)

Spotted Medick, Medicago arabica

The first of the pretty blue Scabious flowers have also appeared, a real sign of Summer. There are several kinds on Wains Hill but this one is the Small Scabious, Scabiosa columbaria.

Small Scabious, Scabiosa columbaria

The Cow Parsley is really tall now and the clearings in the wood are full of it.

Cow Parsley, Anthriscus sylvestris

Another similar flower, appearing on the seaward side of the path is Pignut. The plant is much shorter than Cow Parsley and the leaves are much finer. It is called Pignut because under the ground there is a swollen tuber which is edible (not just be pigs apparently but I haven’t tried it!).

Pignut, Conopodium majus

You can see the first of the Dock family, Common Sorrel (Rumex acetosa) among the grasses. This plant has separate male and female flowers, I think this is a female flower.  The male  flowers look less compact.

Common Sorrel, Rumex acetosa

The Salad Burnet flowers are now really opening up, they start off looking like little fists (see April Showers post) but now the flowers have matured, they are really rather attractive.This flower is common on limestone grasslands.

Salad Burnet, Sanguisorba minor

That’s it for now, comments are always welcome.

Some new arrivals on the grassland facing the Pill are members of the Pea family:

Bird’s foot trefoil, Lotus coniculatus

Bird’s foot trefoil, Lotus corniculatus is bright yellow, though the buds look reddish hence one of its common names is Eggs and bacon.

Kidney Vetch,  Anthyllus vulneraria also has a yellow flower, which looks rather as if its wrapped in cotton wool. Click for an enlargement.

Kidney vetch, Anthyllus vulneraria

Common Vetch, Vicia sativa  has purple flowers that are rather more recognisably pea like. Later this vetch and others will be rambling around all over the other plants.

Common Vetch, Vicia sativa

The Red clover is now much in evidence, the leaves have a white mark on them and there are a just a few flowers out, this one had a bit of a battering from the rain.

Red Clover, Trifolium pratense

The first of many dandelion look-a-likes was a tall multi-flowered plant with interesting red stripes on the outside of the petals (click to see them). Probably Beaked Hawk’s-beard, Crepis vesicaria.

Beaked hawk’s beard, Crepis vesicaria

The cleared ramparts are now thoroughly green with a mixture of plants that were previously covered by the brambles. They include nettles, Cuckoo Pint, wild raspberry, Herb Robert, Scaly Male Fern, Harts Tongue fern, Creeping Thistle, Hogweed, Goosegrass and Hairy Bittercress. Cow Parsley, Red dead nettle, Teasel and various Docks can also be seen.

Cow Parsley, Anthriscus sylvestris

If you look at the photo more closely (just click on it) you can see that that flowers on the outside of each group have unequal sized petals.

Along the same path is Comfrey, you can see this plant alongside Old Church Road as well. I’m told that cabbage white caterpillars particularly like it!

Common Comfrey, Symphytum officinale

Further along the path you can see some Forget-me-nots, Myosotis sylvaticus. This is the Woodland Forget-me-not which is the type found in most people’s gardens – and probably where these came from. 

Forget-me-not, Myosotis sylvatica

On the south side of Wains Hill looking carefully in the grass I found the tiny flowers of the Early Forget-me-not, Myosotis ramosissima

Early Forget-me-not, Myosotis ramosissima

Along the same bank facing the sea a wide variety of plants are flowering now, including Wild Clary (Salvia verbenaca), Bulbous Buttercup (Ranunculus bulbosus), Salad Burnet (Sanguisorba minor) and Ribwort Plantain (Plantago lanceolata).

Wild Clary and Bulbous buttercup

Salad Burnet, Sanguisorba minor

Escapees from local farms either recently or in the past include Wild Turnip and Wild Radish both of these are tall plants with yellow flowers in the form of a cross (only four petals).

Flower of the Ribwort Plantain (left) and Wild Radish (right)

Cow Parsley in the hedgerows (Western Dales 2011)

Bluebells are everywhere. There are two types around Wains Hill – the native bluebell which is a darker blue and has a drooping head of bells which turn up at the bottom. Click to enlarge.

Bluebell, Hyacinthoides non-scripta

and the Spanish type which are more upright looking, with the flowers arranged all around the stem instead of on one side. The bells are often paler and don’t turn up at the bottom. There are lots of bluebells that are something in between the two, as they hybridise frequently where they occur together.

Spanish Bluebell, Hyacinthoides hispanica

I also spotted some white bluebells at the Pill end of Wains Hill so we have pink, white and blue – how appropriate for the Jubilee year!

On the south side of Poet’s Walk you can see the first flowers of Sea Campion, Silene maritima. This is related to the Red Campion elsewhere on the hill

Sea Campion, Silene maritima

Walking down the path through the woodland I came across a patch of Ramsons, Allium ursinum. They are members of the onion family and smell of garlic.

Ramsons, Allium ursinum

The purple flowers of Honesty, Lunaria annua are much in evidence along Poet’s Walk and also in the woodland areas. There is also a white version which I haven’t seen before.

Honesty, Lunaria annua

Green Alkanet, Pentaglottis sempervirens

Along one of the woodland paths there were several large plants of Green Alkanet, it’s related to the Forget-me-not but much larger and usually occurs near to gardens. Click to enlarge.

Some patches of Red Campion are flowering and Herb Robert is flourishing all over the headland.

Herb Robert, Geranium robertianum (left) Red Campion, Silene dioica (right) Click to enlarge

Wallflowers are quite plentiful at the Marine Lake end of Poet’s Walk, presumably they originally spread from gardens nearby. It always surprises me, considering the vast range of plants in our gardens, that more don’t spread to uncultivated places.

Wallflower, Cheiranthus cheiri

The Common Dog Violet can be seen along the path too, it is smaller than the Sweet Violet and is easily missed.

Common Dog Violet, Viola riviniana

Up above the path on the rock face there was an unusual-looking cowslip. In fact I think it is a cross between a primrose and a cowslip called a False Oxlip. Both primroses and cowslips occur on Wains Hill so this quite likely. Unfortunately you would need rock climbing gear to get near enough to check! We used to see Cowslips a lot, but they disappeared for many years as a result of farming herbicides. They are now reappearing partly as a result of deliberate seeding, in fact you can often see them on the grass verges of motorways.

False Oxlip, Primula vulgaris x P veris

The patches of Red Deadnettle are increasing alongside the paths and in the wood and now the White Deadnettle (Lamium album) is flowering too – near to St Andrews Church entrance. They are called Deadnettles because they don’t sting!

White Deadnettle, Lamium album

Cow Parsley, Hogweed and it’s various relatives are getting taller and will soon be flowering.  The Wild Radish, Raphanus raphanistrum is growing very fast and in a few places can be seen with its tall yellow flowers.

Wild Radish, Raphanus raphanistrum

Dandelions are flowering all over Wains Hill and setting seed. Plenty of Dandelion look-alikes are also springing up that should keep me busy with identification (there are a lot of them!).

Dandelion Clock, Taraxacum officinale

The blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) is well named as it has vicious spines, but is an absolute delight at the moment, filling the hedges with white blossom. The blossom comes out first, before the leaves.

Alongside the paths there are wild damson trees, Prunus domestica.

Wild Damson, Prunus domestica ssp insititia

Daffodils are out in clumps in the woods, most of these were probably planted rather than wild, but I came across some pink bluebells and finally the white version of the sweet violet that I had been looking for.

Sweet violet, Viola odorata (left) Bluebell, Endymion non-scriptus (right)

There are plenty of smaller herbs now, in danger of being completely overlooked. Masses of Ivy-leaved Speedwell can be seen by the pathways, probably dismissed as ‘chickweed’  by most gardeners.

Ivy-leaved Speedwell, Veronica hederifolia

The flower is beautiful under a microscope – it is white with narrow blue stripes.

There is another small herb which has rather similar shaped leaves and purple flowers but belongs to a  completely different family. This is Ground Ivy,  Glechoma hederacea

Ground Ivy, Glechoma hederacea

In the woods we found a specimen of Butcher’s Broom. Apparently this plant used to be very common and was used to decorate houses at Christmas. Maybe butchers used it for cleaning too, its leaves are very stiff and pointed.

Butcher's Broom, Ruscus aculeatus

Alexanders, Smyrnium olusatrum

It grows in the Mediterranean but the Romans brought it here, they used the stems and buds like we use celery.

A bee nestling under an Alexanders flower

A bee was curled up beneath the flower, it was too cold for it to fly at that time in the morning. Click to see a larger image.

Wandering over the top of the hill I came across a flower of kidney vetch – plenty of that in the summer but unusual to see it now.

Kidney Vetch, Anthyllis vulneraria

In the woodland there are large numbers of Hart’s Tongue ferns – quite a jungle in places.

I also came across  a couple of other ferns – a Scaly Male Fern, Dryopteris affinis and one specimen of Black Spleenwort, Asplenium adiantum-nigrum growing along the edge of the path beside the wood.

Scaly Male Fern, Dryopteris affinis spores

Scaly Male Fern, Dryopteris affinis

Sweet Violet, Viola odorata

Clevedon was once famous for it’s violets which were regularly dispatched to Queen Victoria by train. Violets were her favourite flower. White violets are  often seen here too.

Celandines have been gradually appearing over the last weeks and a few dandelions have come into flower.

Lesser Celandine, Ranunculus ficaria

The bright red seeds of Iris foetidissima, the Stinking Iris or Roast Beef plant can be seen on the top of the hill.

Stinking Iris, Iris foetidissima

The fruits split open to reveal red seeds, apparently they smell like meat when crushed which presumably is how the plant got its name.

Red Deadnettle (see below)  is flowering as well as a tiny insignificant Cress flower – Hairy Bittercress.

Hairy Bittercress, Cardamine hirsuta

Red Dead-nettle, Lamium purpureum