Last month, I wrote a blog featuring some of the more obvious wild flowers at Conwy that you could see if you visit in June. It proved popular, so here's another one with flowers you might see this month. I haven't repeated any of the flowers from the June blog , but some of those will continue to flower throughout the month, particularly common centaury and yellow-wort, while some bee orchids can also be seen until at least mid-July.
Agrimony
This slender spike of yellow flowers grows in a few places around the reserve, the most obvious being just outside the back door of the Coffee Shop. It has long been used by people, both to dye wool yellow and for its herbal qualities. Anglo-Saxons called it garclive and said that it would heal wounds, snake-bites and warts, and its dried leaves and stem are still used by some people to make herbal tea.
Brackish water crowfoot
If you look in the smaller ponds, and in the Shallow Lagoon as the water level falls in summer, you can see strings of tiny white flowers emerging from the surface. This is brackish water crowfoot, which suits the slightly salty conditions of the coast. It has declined in western Britain in the last century, but seems to do well here perhaps partly because the ponies graze the pond edges and scuff up the ground.
Broad-leaved everlasting pea
This is an introduced species, but I've included it because there is one obvious patch of these flowers along the estuary path, close to Benarth Hide, and we are often asked what it is! It's a climbing species, which has escaped from gardens, but is now widespread in southern Britain, northwest England and the North Wales coast.
Creeping cinquefoil
This is one of several low-growing yellow flowers on the reserve. Superficially similar to a buttercup or rockrose, the trailing stems of the cinquefoil can be found in the grazed areas at the southern part of the reserve. It is the food plant of caterpillars of the grizzled skipper butterfly, which is now rare in North Wales and does not occur at Conwy.
Great willowherb
Tall stands of great willowherb grow at the southern end of the reserve, close to the Conwy Valley rail line. It's related to the more dominant rosebay willowherb, but it has fewer flowers on each stem, rather than the huge spike of rosebay willowherb flowers. Great willowherb's old name was Codlins-and-cream. Codlins were cooking apples, and it probably got the name from the petals, which are rosy on top and creamy white beneath.
Herb Robert
This tiny pink flower can be found from early Spring to late Autumn, usually at the base of larger bushes. It's a type of geranium and was used as a remedy for toothache and nosebleeds, while its odorous freshly-picked leaves are said to repel mosquitoes when rubbed on your skin. It is named after St Robert, a French monk and herbalist who lived around 1000 years ago.
Lady's bedstraw
Look for this delicate flower near the footpath just beyond the Bridge Pond, behind the Coffee Shop and at the base of the sea wall along the estuary path. It used to be stuffed into straw mattresses, especially in the beds of women soon to give birth, since the smell was believed to kill fleas. Its flowers smell of honey, so not surprisingly attracts bees and flies, and as a dried flower, it was used to give Double Gloucester cheese its rich colour.
Meadowsweet
This was a prolific flower of damp meadows, and got its English name because it was used to sweeten mead, a popular drink in Medieval times. You can find it in several spots around the reserve - look by the footpath near Benarth and Carneddau Hides for example. Get down and give it a sniff: the flowers have scent of marzipan, and the leaves of pickled cucumber! It's a great pollinator, so there are usually hoverflies around its frothy flowers.
Self-heal
A member of the mint family, this has long used as a balm for cuts and bruises, until at least the mid 20th century. It grows in the grazed areas of the reserve, and alongside the trails that are regularly trampled, as it is easily overpowered by stronger grasses and bramble. It often grows in garden lawns and is used by many insects, including moths, so don't try to get rid of it: love thy selfheal!
Tufted vetch
This is a climbing member of the pea family, often growing out of the thicket of grasses and creepers at the base of bushes - look for it along the Discovery Trail and near Carneddau Hide. It's a great source of nectar for bees and butterflies, and is also known as cow vetch because it is grown as a forage crop for cattle.
Viper's bugloss
This grows in a few clusters near the reserve entrance, but hardly anywhere else on the reserve. It likes sandy, disturbed soil, and as the flowers come out, it attracts bees and flies; painted lady butterflies especially like it. The name may come from the long red stamens that protrude from the flowers like a snake's tongue.
Woody nightshade
Deadly nightshade is notorious for being poisonous, but woody nightshade is far less so. Its bright red berries do contain solanine (which leads to vomiting), but they taste so unpleasant that you'd be unlikely to eat them anyway (its other English name is bittersweet). It favours shady areas, and seems to do well at Conwy on the edge of the reedbed. Look alongside the boardwalk and among the grass to the sides of the trail between here and Tal-y-fan Hide. The flower petals reflex behind the central yellow cone to give them a bell-like appearance.
Photo credit: thanks to Colin Metcalfe for the photo of agrimony.
Julian HughesSite Manager, Conwy