Swinner Gill Ewith Patches of Red, When Poppies Come Into Bloom
6 The Northern Echo Thursday, July 1, 2010 7DAYS northernecho.co.uk COUNTRY DIARY WALKS VERY year, in late June, the green landscape of summer is enlivened Swinner Gill Ewith patches of red, when poppies come into bloom. Travellers along the road from Houghton-le-Spring to By Seaham, or visitors to the Northumbrian coast near Warkworth, will recently have Mark Reid seen whole fields ablaze with thousands and of scarlet poppies Black Hill Like many plants, poppies produce seeds that can remain dormant in the soil for decades. They require light for POINTS OF INTEREST germination, so only burst into life after ROMthe beautiful hay they’ve been brought to the surface by meadows to the WALKFACTS the passing of a plough. Poppies windswept moorland belong to a group of arable weeds that edge high above Distance: 13.25 km (8.25 includes corn chamomile, corn cockle, F miles) Swaledale, this walk corn flower, corn marigold, bugloss and encapsulates the Yorkshire Dales. Time: 4 – 5 hours henbit whose flowering depends on The Muker hay meadows are Maps: OS Explorer Sheet regular soil disturbance, so they have amongst the finest upland OL30 always been a feature of agricultural meadows in England, with scores Start/Parking: Car park landscapes since farming first began. In of flowers, grasses and plants in at Muker Victorian times all these species were Refreshments: Pub and very common, but the development of each field. Cut later than normal efficient seed cleaning technologies for to allow seeding, the great cafe at Muker. No cereal crop seed production and the swathes of wild flowers are one of facilities en route advent of effective modern herbicides the highlights of early summer in Terrain: Field paths and have removed them from fields so the Yorkshire Dales, but be quick then a stony track lead efficiently that many are now rare.
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