Flora of the cliff-edge
In May, a bright day after rain shows the flora of Scout Scar escarpment to perfection. Specialist plants grow here where there is so little soil that most species cannot thrive. The rare hoary rock-rose flourishes on the rock-face in clumps of lemon-coloured flowers. Common rock rose is more widely distributed over Scout Scar.
The cliff is glorious with yellow flowers. Blue moor grass flowers about Easter tide so its seed-heads appear on the cliff-edge. The rare Lancastrian whitebeam grows in the buttress and cliff-face, the pale under-side of its leaves making the tree look as if it's in flower.
A redstart is singing, hidden by the sheer cliff and the woodland trees. The acoustic of the rock-face makes it hard to pin-point his song and he has several display perches. Unlike the cuckoo whose faint call tells he's in flight over the escarpment the male redstart is settled in a smallish territory. The cliff-edge is wavering and hides trees grow close against it. Seeking and not finding redstart, I see into the secret and inaccessible wood below the cliff, now at its loveliest with tree flowers and the canopy freshly in leaf.
The cliff is glorious with yellow flowers. Blue moor grass flowers about Easter tide so its seed-heads appear on the cliff-edge. The rare Lancastrian whitebeam grows in the buttress and cliff-face, the pale under-side of its leaves making the tree look as if it's in flower.
A redstart is singing, hidden by the sheer cliff and the woodland trees. The acoustic of the rock-face makes it hard to pin-point his song and he has several display perches. Unlike the cuckoo whose faint call tells he's in flight over the escarpment the male redstart is settled in a smallish territory. The cliff-edge is wavering and hides trees grow close against it. Seeking and not finding redstart, I see into the secret and inaccessible wood below the cliff, now at its loveliest with tree flowers and the canopy freshly in leaf.
The brevity of flowers makes them precious. Growing on hot rock and fully exposed to the sun will quickly fade and frazzle them in a heat-wave and the weather forecast tells of temperatures in the mid to high twenties next week. This lovely day is quintessential May, the aesthetic and simply being here.
I spent much of the morning along the escarpment edge, looking for an elusive redstart, enjoying the verdure of the wood in May and the loveliness of the cliff-flora.
If a heat-wave burns off the rock-face flora fast can rain give bring a second flowering? Last spring saw an early heat wave that stressed the flowers and later, after rain, clumps of hoary rock rose reappeared. The Queen's Road rue-leaved saxifrage was a mas of tiny white flowers a couple of days ago, after a day of light rain.
If a heat-wave burns off the rock-face flora fast can rain give bring a second flowering? Last spring saw an early heat wave that stressed the flowers and later, after rain, clumps of hoary rock rose reappeared. The Queen's Road rue-leaved saxifrage was a mas of tiny white flowers a couple of days ago, after a day of light rain.
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