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You can eat the tops of Ribwort Plantain– they taste like mushrooms – and Yarrow helps staunch bleeding. At around 6.30 p.m. on June 14^th, I didn’t know any of that apart from the names, Plantain and Yarrow. That was the time that botanist Martin Allen began his talk and walk around Cowbar, along with Sue Antrobus from Tees Valley Wildlife Trust, stopping at a range of plants to tell s a bit about them. Twenty of us followed him from plant to plant, fascinated by the insights that can be gained when you look closely  species that we walk past so often without giving them a thought.

We were taught about more than two dozen species and how to differentiate between those that appear similar, like Slender Tare and Hairy Tare. I liked his approach to things that are often seen as negative – looking at a Creeping Thistle plant affected by rust, he said that’s good – it increases biodiversity and, where the ground had been impacted by heavy vehicle tracks the previous year, this gave butterflies an opportunity “to bask”.  His comments about plant behaviour were often amusing – “Orchids are so promiscuous!”, he exclaimed as we discovered example after example of common spotted orchid.

The event had been due to last for an hour but we happily spent double that taking advantage of the wealth of plant information possessed and provided by Martin and Sue. If we had thought it was important to protect that little patch of biodiversity before, then the pair of them certainly underlined that belief. It was not just an interesting experience, it was truly enriching.

Mick

Thanks to everyone who came and who sent in their photos. We have included some of them here and some of them in our gallery and on our species entries.

These are the plants Martin pointed out to us that evening: