Rose season

Another day, another site visit - this time to meet C & J at Bainton, and to review the success of a stretch of verge where they had attempted to introduce more herbaceous species. 2021 was a particularly difficult year to be doing this, with a cold spring followed by a wet summer which encouraged grass growth over wild flowers, but we found some young plants which will hopefully build up their strength over the autumn and spring. We also agreed a plan for next year to continue with the diversification. J and C are well aware that this type of enhancement tends to take time, but so often people expect instant results!

We then headed to the churchyard, which supports a wonderful show of spring flowers, to see if there were any areas that could be left longer for summer flowers. We identified an area of unshaded grassland with Ox-eye Daisy and Lady's Bedstraw which would be a suitable trial area. They were off on holiday the following day, so left to finish their packing while I did a bit of botanical recording in the churchyard.

While I was there I spotted this rose. Contrary to expectation, most roses can't be identified until the fruits are ripe, so it's now peak rose season locally. This one appears to be a hybrid between Dog-rose and Harsh Downy-rose - a rather  scattered taxon locally and not one I've ever found in a churchyard before. All my previous finds have been in areas of ancient woodland or old hedgerows.