Reed Canary Grass Archives - A Year in the Valley

Today in the Valley

It’s very interesting comparing today’s picture with December’s. On the face of it not much different. However, the green splashes are more vibrant and luxuriant. And the reason is, I think, because they are different plants.

In December the nettles, a duller green, were still holding out over the other side of the valley. They have died back over the winter and are much greyer in colour where they are visible. You will notice the bright green patches are also lusher in texture and that’s because it’s the return of the arch-villain Hemlock Water Dropwort. HWD has an early start and early demise, sinking fast after its deceptively pretty lacey flowers have finished, and then being swamped by the beanstalk-high Reed Canary Grass.

In the picture below you can see in the top right especially, the fronds of HWD. In the centre of the picture are some remaining nettles – you can see their individual leaves of a duller green. Also, note the dead grass, looking very hay-like.

Daisy D

05 February 2024

Views

Hemlock Water Dropwort, Reed Canary Grass, View

Planthopper (Stenocranus)species

This is a different shape from a leafhopper, with a more pointed head. There are a few types of planthopper. They all have pale brown wings with stripes running front to back. The different species differ in small details and dissection is required for accurate identification. They live in marshy habitats, especially where Reed Canary Grass (Phalaris arundinacea) grows. The adults can be spotted February to October.

Daisy D

20 October 2023

Insects

Planthopper, Reed Canary Grass

Wild Angelica Angelica sylvestris

Down in the stream, it’s a bit crowded this year. We usually clear an open path for the water, in case of any flash floods, but since finding the unconfirmed dead water vole, we have removed this job from our ‘to-do’ list for the time being. This is because they live in reed beds alongside water courses and eat grasses and herbs.

As a result the stream is now grown over with vegetation. Many are previously mentioned – Reed Canary Grass, Branched Burr-reed, and the odd Hemlock Water Dropwort. But there seems to be a new kid on the block.

Meet Wild Angelica. A robust clump with red celery-style stems and lush green leaves like a rose-bush growing in the stream. I was worried she was going to be a Hemlock variant and in a way, she is, being an Umbellifer with cow parsley style flowers.

However, the leaves are completely different – perfectly leaf-shaped, in pairs with a single leaf at the tip of each branch – and the hollow stem is crimson. Some of the HWD have red or red-mottled stems, but those ones tend also to have red-tinted leaves. However, here’s the thing, our Angelica is in a lot better shape than the HWDs, which have all keeled over by now. Her flowers are fairly feeble, but they are just coming into bloom. (I’m secretly hoping she will seize control of the valley from the army of toxic HWD, but it’s early days.)

In this picture, you can see how the Wild Angelica has taken over that part of the stream.

Also, you can see some of the white flowers.

Candied angelica used to be used as a cake decoration, but I’m not taking any chances with beginner’s foraging.

In this picture you can see another 14-spot ladybird with an aphid near the top of the right-hand branch.

Daisy D

21 July 2023

Flowers

Branched Burr-reed, Fourteen-spot ladybird, Hemlock Water Dropwort, Reed Canary Grass, Wild Angelica

Branched Burr-reed (Sparganium erectum)

My camera had been on the wrong setting and recent photos were suddenly looking pixelated when I zoomed in to view close-up detail. I needed to re-photograph some of the flowers and bugs that I had previously snapped, so in between showers Mr C and I went for a walk to see what we could find.

The stream has become overgrown with grasses and other water plants. We usually try to clear a path for the water to flow easily in case of flooding, but this summer we haven’t managed to, so down in the stream, I have noticed some new plants, including this funny-looking one. Several stems with bobbles on were tucked in amongst the Reed Canary Grass, which grows both in and out of the stream.

The white-bloomed bobbles, which look a bit like coconut-covered chocolate truffles on their own branches, are the female flower-clusters and the smaller, more compact bobbles climbing up the stem are the male clusters.

Daisy D

12 July 2023

Sedges, rushes, grasses

Branched Burr-reed, Reed Canary Grass

The Watermeadow in July

We went for a walk round the watermeadow and pushed our way through the overhanging grass down the paths. We saw baby frogs, but they hopped out of the way before I could focus the camera on them. We saw a Drinker Moth caterpillar again. It was huge, around 6cm and quite chubby. We also saw a dead animal, very dead, very smelly. I thought it was a rat, but it had a short furry tail, so I’m wondering whether it was a water vole, as even though it was flat, it still looked too large, wet, and dark to be a field vole. It would be very exciting if we had live water voles in the stream – I’ve never seen them in our garden before. Signs to look for are a) a burrow with nibbled grass ‘driveway’ b) a pile of grass stems nibbled at a 45° angle, like a quill, as they tend to eat in a regular place, and c) tiny oval droppings.

Again, compared to last month the watermeadow looks ravaged and untidy. The grass is longer and brushed with its pink-ish blooms.

Daisy D

06 July 2023

Butterflies, moths, caterpillars

Drinker Moth, Frog, Reed Canary Grass, View, Water Vole

The Valley in July

We have had rain over the past three days and wind. The valley and the watermeadow are looking ravaged again, as the Reed Canary Grass has grown tall and fallen over. Compared to last month, you can see the HWD has finished flowering and the valley has tints of pinky-orange where the grass is in flower.

Daisy D

05 July 2023

Views

Hemlock Water Dropwort, Reed Canary Grass, View

Reed Canary Grass (Phalaris arundinacea)

I’m finding grasses really difficult to identify, partly because they all look so broadly similar and partly because what I think are two grasses tend to be the same one in different stages of flowering i.e. the bud and the bloom. The reason I believe our main grass to be Reed Canary Grass is that:

it is now at least 8ft tall, definitely above head height
its branched flower is a pinky colour
its slim-style leaves are quite substantial, at least 1cm wide
it’s the right habitat – Reed Canary Grass likes damp places, ditches and beside water.

Daisy D

18 June 2023

Sedges, rushes, grasses

Reed Canary Grass

Creeping Buttercup (Ranunculus repens)

The buttercups in our watermeadow are not the neat little pops of colour studding the lawn again two days after mowing. They flourish in the undergrowth, delicate stemmed with three-lobed intricate leaves, the familiar flowers bold gold splashes in the marine-like depths of the undergrowth. Fifteen months ago, we planted a Kingcup, or Marsh Marigold, the supersize version of a buttercup, with a stout stem and flat, scalloped leaves. It has settled in well – loves paddling, even swimming, in the winter – but has long since flowered for this year, so I hope to feature it next spring. Then, up in Pagham Harbour Nature Reserve, I spotted tall-stemmed, slim-leaved Water Buttercup flowers in a pond. Interesting that three similar flowers have such different leaves, but I have since discovered that there are a number of different kinds of buttercups.

We’ve been away for a week (I took loads of photos before we went and scheduled some posts) and on our returned have been stunned by the change in garden dynamics. The first Hemlock Water Dropwort trunks have crashed over our back fence burying two of our alder saplings. The tall grass (Reed Canary grass, I think) that thickly populates the valley and our patch is now at least 8ft tall and has overtaken the top-heavy HWD. The pathways mown into our watermeadow are in danger of closing up due to overhanging foliage. The Bellvine is also dragging it down; and the Pendulous Sedge has daubed us with smudges of chocolate brown pollen.

Daisy D

16 June 2023

Flowers

Bindweed, Creeping Buttercup, Hemlock Water Dropwort, Pendulous Sedge, Reed Canary Grass