Glen Maye

An excess of Wild Flowers

Monday 25th June, 2012

As requested wild flowers photographed on a walk from The Raggatt to Glen Maye and back via the Garey and Patrick on 25 June 2012

Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) - a pretty flower with an ugly name.  Some wild plants are named for animals which like to eat them.  Hogsweed flowers are normally white.  This one, tinged with pink, was growing at the side of the track through the fields behind Peel Hill.

A large swathe of Sea campion  (Silene maritima) on the bank alongside the overgrown path along the top of the cliffs between Peel and Glen Maye

Close up picture of the Sea campion

On a dry part of the bank there was a lot of English stonecrop (Sedum anglicum) and a small patch of blue Sheep's-bit (Jasione montana) in the top right corner of the photo.

Stonecrop close up

Close up of one Sheep's-bit flower on the verge of opening.

Sea plantain (Plantago maritima) growing near the stile where the cliff path diverts through the edge of the fields.  It is the first time I have seen sea plantain.  There are four subspecies and  the illustrations in my wildflower books were a bit different.  While looking for positive photographic ID on the internet I came across this marvellous site. http://www.thewesternisles.co.uk/hebridean-wildflowers.htm   The Hebrides are considerably further north than we are (being to the west of Scotland while we are west of Cumbria and the Lake District) but a lot of their wild flowers are found here too. 

In the swampy dip before the next stile, I came across this Wild Carrot? (Daucus carota ssp carrota).  One old Manx Wild Flower book shows a photo of something similar and calls it Fool's Parsley (Aethusa cynapium).     

 

As we turned inland at Glen Maye we came across some typical June hedgerow flowers - first honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum) . . . 

 

 . . . then a white rose (possibly a field rose - Rosa arvensis or dog rose - Rosa canina)

 

And growing on the bank at the side of the road (which turns off above the old Glen Maye Post Office and climbs the steep hill towards the Garey) we saw some pink roses possibly Dog Roses (Rosa canina).  I can't be certain about the identification of the roses without returning in the autumn to examine the hips.

 

Further up the hill there was a clump of Fuchsia (Fuchsia magellanica).  These were brought here originally from South America but seem to enjoy our climate and the seeds must be spread by birds because they grow in profusion in the wild and I even have to weed out seedlings to stop them taking over our garden.

 

We turned down a stony track which leads from the Garey to Patrick village and discovered that someone had been scattering ox eye daisy seed (Leucanthemum vulgare) at the side of the track and along the Barnell Lane.  I took this photo on the lane as we approached the Patrick road.

A little further on, this hedge woundwort (Stachys sylvatica) was growing at the side of the road.

And finally, we walked through the churchyard of Patrick church and saw this meadow cranesbill (Geranium pratense) growing among the old gravestones, nettles and long grass in an overgrown corner.