The visit to SSSI Aubert Ings is becoming something of an annual event, for an early botanical venue. The spectacular butter-yellow wild tulips and delicate fritillaries are guaranteed, and an encouraging harbinger of a wildflower summer!
It is a unique site; on entering the gate you would be forgiven for thinking at first glance that you were looking at a monoculture grass meadow. But as soon as you look at the ground the remarkable botanical diversity is obvious The field makes a shallow bowl partly bounded by the banked-up curve of the river Nidd. This gives the site its unusual botanical characteristics – the river regularly overflows its banks and floods the field, creating damp conditions and seeding the field with plants from upstream, often untypical for a meadow site. Bluebells and Wood Anemones, for example, are common.
This year, the weather was typical of April, and our small group of five enjoyed revisiting the flowers of previous years, and dusting off our rusty plant ID skills.
It was immediately obvious that the season was more advanced than usual, probably 10 days ahead of 2022 – the wild tulips had almost completely finished flowering, and the grass was long and lush. This is probably a result of a mild March and wet April in comparison with previous cold dry springs. But the shrivelled appearance of the tulips was compensated for by the Early-purple Orchids, which were almost fully out, fresh, perfect and intensely coloured.The species list was similar to previous years (see link below), though we did not pick up any of the hedgerow plants (Woundwort etc) as the cut grass from the meadow had been piled up against the base of the hedge. The spread of invasive Himalayan Balsam and Giant Hogweed continues!
It was a very pleasant morning, enjoying birdsong, fresh young plants and good company.
Muff Upsall
