QUODITCH EDUCATION DEVON

 
 

QUODITCH MOOR NATURE RESERVE

A WALK IN MAY

Field One - continued
 

 

The Lady's Smock or Cuckoo Flower (Cardamine Pratensis) is now in full flower amongst the Purple Moor Grass (Molinia Caerulia).

 

If you look carefully on the Cuckoo Flower you can see the single eggs of the Lacewing.

The Molinia grass is beginning to grow through the remains of last year's stumps.

This was found growing in lots of the piles of horse manure. Ivan Buxton tells us that it is Panaeolus Fimibratus. Following on from that we found it in Keizer (1997) who also calls it "Anellaria semiovata "


They are often found on dung.
A friend of ours calls them Gypsy mushrooms.

This one was found under a bush, again in field one in May 2004, but we have yet to identify it.

In the long grass all sorts of interesting creatures can be found.

Here is a Drinker Moth Caterpillar (Euthix Potatoria)

and a Damselfly, which we believe to be a female Beautiful Demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo). The male has blue patches on its wings. As you see, it was secure enough to rest on someone's hand.

 

This settled on a pair of jeans, so you can get an idea of the size from the weave. The nearest we can find is a Rove Beetle (fam-Staphylinidae).

Since we put this up on the web Jerry Dicker has kindly e-mailed us to tell us that he believes it to be a Paederus riparius.

Ivan Buxton suggests that it is a Paederus Littoralis. Having now looked on Google for both names I have to admit that I can't tell the difference from the various pictures on the internet.

If I remember "riparius" is to do with rivers and "littoralis" is to do with coasts?

   

In the marshy area to the north of the field the Water Crowfoot (Ranuncus Sp) is in flower. This area is still very wet, in fact, too wet to safely enter.

and the water loving weeds are growing strongly.

   

The Water Mint (Mentha Aquatica) is beginning to appear.It has the most beautiful sweet mint smell, which you can detect as you walk through the clumps.

When crossed with Spearmint it produces Peppermint.

Like the Peppermint Watermint can be used to counteract stomach pains.



The Ride extends the whole length of our estate. It is possible to walk from one end to the other, a distance of nearly half a mile.


From this point though you can turn left and visit field two
so click on the logo to continue.

page updated May 2007

 

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE