'Maritima' recording on Towen Island

On Wed the 14th of August, the local recorder, I and two others did some plant recording on Towen Island. The activity was very educational - we learned about everything from the extra types of plantain to sea lavender. A handy thing was that if you got the Genus right, the species name was likely to be 'maritima'.

Looking like Rhubarb; Burdock - Arctium minus

A comparison of Reddeadnettle - Lamium purpureum and woundwort - Stachys sylvatica 
Woundwort has a strong smell, like dog urine according to some; neither of the plants sting.

Charlock - Sinapis arvense

Sun Spurge - Euphorbia helioscopia

Northern Bedstraw - Galium boreale

Lady's Bedstraw - Galium vernum

And the plantains:

Buck's horn plantain - Plantago coronopus

Sea plantan - Plantago Maritima

Let the 'maritimas' begin:

Lesser Sea-spurry - Spurgularia maritima

Sea-spurry - Spergularia media and S. maritima

Saltmarsh grass - Puccinellia maritima

Rock Samphire  - Crithmum maritimum

Glasswort?

Still to come: Sea Lavandar, Sea Wormwood

Plant Recording in Coole Park

On Saturday 10th August I went plant recording in Coole park with lecturer Micheline Sheehy Skeffington and some of her students.
On our arrival, we were met by one of the workers there who lead us to specific interesting plants

Helleborine - Epipactis helleborine

And some others, but we kept stopping along the way to record other plants - like this red Valerian which was growing on the wall.

Red valerian - Centranthus ruber

This is not the real valerian, however, as I learned. But we did find that later on:

Valerian - Valeriana officinalis

Later on we found a large supply of Dewberries - like a delicious version of blackberries - it's true that blackberries are delicious too but these are milder  in acidity and more juicy. Basically, you can eat more of them - besides they look lovely and were plentyful.

Dewberry - Rubus caesius

 Here's a treasure I learned about and tried - water pepper. Like the name suggests it is quite spicy - I wonder if the the spicyness would last in cooking...

Water Pepper - Persicaria hydropiper

 Finally, not so much on the edible menu unlike the previous few (Helleborine and Red Valerian are NOT edible), we have this interesting shrub: Purging buckthorn

Purging Buckthorn - Rhamnus cathartica

These are just a few of the plants we found, recorded and learned about. But mostly these are the ones I took a photo of. I took many more of the next trip - to Towen Island.

Sunny Summer Greetings

I went back to that place where I found the Spring Gentians only a week later and now they are in full bloom:

Spring Gentian

Also, yestarday I found Sea Pink/Thrift (Armeria maritima) in flower on the Aran Islands, even though it is suppose to flower between the end of May and July.

Sea Pink on the rocks, Inis Mór

Sea Pink Close up

So it seems that even though we got a stunt to spring, now that spring has finally broken through, and now we are into summer, everything is in a hurry. Almost all trees have their leaves now. Ash are just opening, while oak is still sleeping. There is an old saying 'Ash before the oak and we'll have a soak'. This would indicate we are in for a wet summer. However, yesterday being the beginning of summer on the Celtic calander, I got some sunburn - I think it is off to a good start : )))

Finally:

Babbington's leek - something very common on the Aran Islands, but rare otherwise. Smells like garlic

Spring is back

Last Wednesday cycling along Dyke road, against the wind and rain, I noticed something strange. The wind, for the first time in more than a month, was warm. We finally have our prevailing winds back, from the Atlantic bringing us back spring. Since then I've been out walking a bit and noticed spring suddenly picking up in pace.
Today, I went across the scrubland hills (which are similar to the burren) and I found some plants of interests:

Cowslip (P. veris)

False Oxlip (P. x polyantha)

Both of these are in the same genus as Primrose and the second is a hybrid. I found all 3 in close proximity. If you find them, please don't pick either of these two as they flowers are in decline due apparently to over-picking, farming practices and habitat change. The area where I seen these seemed like it was poorly managed farm (over grazed maybe), yet these were abundant albeit locally.


I also found some spring gentians - but they have yet to open their flowers. I passed some lovely smelling juniper - the berries green and unripe.
Some other flowers to be seen on limestone pavement at this time of the year (that I've noted) include the Blue Moor Grass, Wood Anemone and the barren strawberry.  http://www.wildflowersofireland.net/ is great to see what is in flower and where - anywhere in the country.

Seaweeds - group forage

Even though we failed to find sea spaghetti on Saturday, we did come home with a range of other seaweeds. By far the most common being Carrageen moss, then Ulva (sea lettuce). This time we had a much larger group and so it was a bit complicated to arrange and organise all the carpooling, with the result that the tide was already on the way in when we arrived.
Now equipped with my dehydrator, I have been able to dry much of the Carrageen moss and Ulva.

Dried Carrageen Moss on Dehydrator tray, Ulva beneath

I am also making more Carrageen moss pudding, this time with lemon and strawberries (I know, they're not in season...). This recipe I adapted from the first one listed on the Flora Celtica page.

Carrageen moss, cinnamon bark and lemon - the first ingredients to make Carrageen pudding. I used water this time (instead of soya milk as it sticks and burns)

Some of the kelps we found included:

Saccharina (S. latissima) - I mistakenly called it Sargassum. It was formally classified as Laminaria (Kelp) - this is the seaweed people use to wrap fish, but Flora Celtica lists other uses. The real Sargassum, I believe we seen it there (in the deep water), but I don't know of uses for it.

Other Kelps, including (from right) Laminaria hyperborea, L. digitata and again the Saccharina.

We also found 2 of the 3 common Fucoids: Serrated (F. serratus) and Bladderwort (F. vesiculosus). I didn't find the spiralled one (F. spiralis). The serrated one was the dominant one, in fact it was pretty much all one could see on the shore at first glance.
Of the Ulvas, we found different forms (including the 'entromorpha' one and maybe claudophera), but it is the sheet like sea lettuce recommended as better for eating. While we did find Nori, it was loose (washed up) and so no good to eat as it was bleached by the sun and probably half rotten already.

Seaweed Foraging Trip - 30th March anyone?

There is another spring low tide at the end of March. This time we plan to go to Finavarra, co. Clare in the hopes to find some sea spaghetti there. If you're interested to come along, please get in contact. We'll be car pooling from Galway.

Me trying Sea Spaghetti (4 years ago)

Seaweed Collecting

Even though Seaweed is not eaten much in Ireland, seaweed collecting, by people living near the coast, goes back centuries. It has been used as a fertiliser for the land (like we see in The Field) and in the compost heap, burned as kelp and now it is experiencing a revival in the cosmetic industry, including use in creams and seaweed baths of course. All that said, I'd like to focus primarily on its edibility. While there may be very few potentially harmful species of macroalgae (seaweed) growing on British and Irish coasts, many are not so edible due to their structure or taste. The best known edibles include: Carrageen Moss (both species), Dulse/Dillisk, Sea Lettuce (Ulvas) and the kelps including sea spaghetti. Indeed sea spagetti is something interesting to try, and I've yet to find some culinary recipes that make good use of the Kelps.

Seaweed Foraging Trip

For gathering seaweed to eat, it is important to collect from a clean site, especially since toxins and all sorts of nasties easily diffuse in the water - and are absorbed by whatever is in it (including seaweed).

Me looking at seaweeds

With Wild Food Mary [see her blog here], we went seaweed collecting and identifying last Sunday out the coast beyond Spiddal.

Fucoids and Ulva

In the above photo, we can identify 3 seaweeds: Fucus vesiculosus, F. serratus and edible Ulva - sea lettuce.

Navelwort on wall

Afterwards, we found a nice surprise on the wall - Navelwort/Wall Pennywort - a yummy edible at this time of year, but has too strong a taste by the end of the summer, as I recalled from last September. PFAF say that this "can be eaten in quantity".







In the following days, besides freezing some seaweed, I used some Ulva to make seaweed scones...

Ulva Scones

Also I experimented with making Carrageen Jelly using the second recipe on this Flora Celtica Page. It actually turned out excellent, even if a bit too cinnamony. I didn't follow the recipe exactly, I admit, using blackberries from the freezer instead of lemon. Anyway, here is a pic of the results:

Blackberry Cinnamon Carrageen Jelly made in Silicon Bun mold

And no, it doesn't taste like seaweed : )))

At this time of the year it much too early for sea spaghetti and some other seaweeds are small or old (last year's growth), however it was a worth while trip. In February or March, we may be going again, maybe as a group - so let us know if you are interested.

And now I am off to try out Dulse Scones.