REPORT ON THE APRIL 2007 MEETING

Changing Plant Life of the North Pennines

The topic at the April meeting of the Alston Moor Historical Society was ‘Changing Plant Life of the North Pennines’ and the speaker, Dr. Margaret Bradshaw, gave a fascinating insight into how the fortunes of plants can fluctuate over a relatively short period of time. Yet again the Society was indebted to a most enthusiastic speaker who shared her fascination of the Pennine flora with the members by recounting her personal experiences and research. Dr. Bradshaw concentrated on only one plant – Alchemilla. These plants come under the general common name of Lady’s Mantle and such is Dr Bradshaw’s fascination of this plant that she has given her house the same name.

There are 12 varieties native to Britain and 9 of these are found in the Teesdale, Weardale and South Tyne hills. 3 of these are only found in this catchment area. The most common variety which is found in many gardens is Alchemilla Mollis, a plant with round, saw-edged, light green leaves and tiny sulphur yellow flowers. However Dr. Bradshaw made it clear that she felt that this particular invasive and robust plant was undesirable and exhorted the audience to eliminate where ever possible, preferably by burning.

The plants prefer high ground and do well on the Pennines and in parts of Scotland. Teesdale has the healthiest population of all and has the most varieties, closely followed by Weardale. Dr Bradshaw demonstrated the benefits of well documented research records when she displayed maps drawn in the 1950’s showing the location of plant population throughout the Pennines. This involved scouring many miles of roadside verges and meadows, the most prolific location for these plants, over a long period and carefully recording the results, plotting them on large scale maps. Revisiting these locations recently has shown the changes over a 50 year period. Not surprisingly, the indications are that whilst some varieties have gone from certain sites, others are still clinging on and others are doing reasonably well.

Dr. Bradshaw asked the audience to speculate why the plants are found in the Pennines and do relatively well, as opposed to other places. Whilst she did not have a definitive answer she speculated whether the lead mining heritage had been a contributory factor. Pack animals were used extensively throughout the Pennines and loads would include hay and straw. Could this have spread seed along the roads and tracks? It is probable that these grasses were indigenous as Britain was at that time an exporter, and not an importer, of grass seed.

The reasons for decline are also open to speculation but could include that current phenomenon global warming, over active rabbits, traffic spreading materials from roads, particularly salt, and different attitudes to the management of grass verges by councils.

Whilst the subject matter for the talk was very specific, it produced a fascinating and thought provoking evening enhanced very significantly by the enthusiasm of the speaker, who has spent a large part of her life studying this particular plant family.

NEXT MEETING

 The next meeting of the Society will be at 7.30 pm on Wednesday, 2 nd May in the Masonic Hall. The topic will be ‘The Great Romance’, a tale of settlers moving away from Alston for Canada. The speaker, a member of the family involved, will be Cathy Smith