Maentwrog

Wikimedia Commons

Definitely the wettest day of the year's botanical ones, as I met Jacky at the Oakley Arms.  We started with coffee there - and it took a bit of will power [and much discussion about where to go] before we set off to the back road to Gellilydan.  We took a footpath southwards and began recording.The first part of the walk was a dry-ish slope merging into neglected and post-mature woodland and we struggled to find our target of 20 species before we allowed ourselves to stop for lunch! It was so wet that we gave up writing and just collected 'bits' to write up later [which is what I should be doing now!]

Betonica officinalis
Photo: John Crellin

The walk along lanes back to the car would repay another visit - it must  be lovely in summer, with Bitter-vetch, Lathyrus linifolius  and Betony, Betonica officinalis, lining the hedgebanks.



Much of the walk was on the new-ish Arfordir long distance footpath and the plants we recorded also made it definitely worth a plan to revisit in the summer, and in better conditions: there was a promising-looking bog with Viola palustris subsp juressi, which I suspect prefers 'better' habitat than the commoner subspecies V. palustris subsp palustris.

It was pleasing to find that we managed to record over 70 species on such a really wet day in late October.

Viola palustris showing hairy petiole [on the left], with the bracteole above the mid point of the peduncle.  
Photo taken in Ireland in July 2012