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.