Silver Birch (Betula pendula)

Look for it in Harmers Wood

Silver Birch (Betula pendula) is one of two common Birch species native to Britain. It grows throughout Harmers Wood and as the name suggests has a silvery bark.

Sessile Oak (Quercus petraea)

Look for it in Harmers Wood.

There are two common native species of Oak (plus hybrids of the two) which are common in Britain. Sessile Oak favours shallow, sandy, acid soils which is an perfect description of the land on which Harmers Wood trees grow.

Mountain Ash or Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia)

Look for it in Harmers Wood.

There are many species in the Sorbus genus and all have berries. Many are difficult to tell apart but Rowan has distinctive leaves with between 5 to 8 pairs of leaflets. Later in the year it has bright red berries often eaten by birds.

Holly (Ilex aquifolium)

Look for it in Harmers Wood

Holly is a native plant but the condition in Harmers Wood are so favourable for it growth and germination of seeds that it is almost invasive. You can't miss it but some plants have spiny leaves at the bottom of the tree and non spiny elliptical leaves at the top. This is thought to be an evolutionary defence against browsing animals.

Common Gorse (Ulex europaeus)

Look for it on Helsby Hill top and roadside Hill Road North.

There are two native species of Gorse in the vicinity of Harmers Wood, the commonest of which is this one: Common Gorse (Ulex europaeus). This prickly shrub covers part of Helsby Hill. It begins to produce a few flowers in the Autumn and is in full flower by February or March. If the sun shines on bushes of gorse flowers in late Spring the scent of coconuts permeates the air.

Red Campion (Silene dioica)

Look for it on the roadside verge of Hill Road North.

A very common and colourful roadside wild flower, this native plant is found throughout Helsby and Cheshire. It can be white as well as deep pink and the flowers are dioecious: they have male and female parts on separate plants.

Broad Buckler-fern (Dryopteris dilatata)

Look for it in Harmers Wood.

Ferns tend to look very similar at first and can be very different when young from the mature plant. Broad Buckler-fern is typically a native woodland species and is tufted, all the leaves (fronds) arising from one place. It is also three-pinnate which means the leaflets have smaller leaflets and those have even smaller leaflets.

Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum)

Look for it in Harmers Wood.

Bracken is a very common, often invasive, fern with leaves (fronds) attached to a long stem which can be more than two metres in length. At first it emerges as a single stem bent over at the top like a shepherd's crook. The roots form a network so a whole hillside can be covered with just one plant. It is both native and an invasive plant.

Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis)

Look for it on the roadside verge of Hill Road North.

Snowdrops escape quite easily from gardens and can be found on roadsides early in the year. They are possibly native in the U.K. but probably only in the Welsh border country. As the climate warms they flower earlier, in December sometimes.

Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non scripta)

Look for it on the roadside verge of Hill Road North.

According to Plantlife this is Britain's favourite flower: the native Bluebell with long, dark blue, drooping florets (florets are the individual flowers) and white anthers. It will grow in hedgerows, amongst bracken on hillsides and famously in huge numbers in bluebell woods. Britain has about 40% of the world's Bluebells. The native bluebell yields a beautiful fragrance which you can experience on a warm day in woodland after rain.

Garden or Hybrid Bluebell (Hyacinthoides x massartiana)

Look for it on the roadside verge of Hill Road and round the bottom of Helsby Hill near old Chester Road North.

This is the "imposter" Bluebell. It looks a bit like our true native Bluebell but is paler with more open bells, flowers on all sides of the flower stalk (pedicel) and has blue anthers and no fragrance. It is very vigorous and unlike many plant hybrids is fertile so reproduces readily through bulbs and seeds. It is a cross between our native bluebell and a cultivated variety of the Spanish Bluebell. Spanish bluebells are very rarely found in the wild in this country contrary to reports you sometimes read in the press.

Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna ssp fertilis)

Look for it on the roadside verge of Hill Road and many of the roadside verges around Helsby and Frodsham. North.

A low growing member of the Buttercup family, this wild flower can brighten up our verges in March and April with some plants flowering earlier in January or even December of the previous year. There are two main sub species of which this one is commonest but Ficaria verna ssp verna which has tiny bulbs in the angle of the leaf stalk (axils) and main stem, is also found around in Helsby road side verges. The botanical name in many older wild flower books is Ranunculus ficaria but it was changed in 2010 to Ficaria verna.

Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)

Look for it on the roadside verge of Hill Road and the roadside verges of Harmers Wood.

One of our favourite and beautiful wild flowers, the Foxglove likes acid soils and shade so is abundant around the Helsby area. It is biennial which means that the rosettes of leaves appear the year before the flowers. The seeds can live quite a time in the ground and will germinate when exposed to the light so the rosettes often appear after you've been gardening. The plant is poisonous and a source of the heart stimulant drug digitalis now manufactured as Digoxin or Digitoxin.

Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus)

Look for it in Harmers Wood.

This is a sub alpine plant which will grow at quite a height on our mountains but is equally at home at lower altitudes. It grows in the quarries and alongside the paths of Harmers Wood. The inconspicuous flowers bloom very early in the year giving edible fruits in late summer.

Enchanter's-nightshade (Circaea lutetiana)

Look for at the side of Hillside Road North in shade not far from Harmers Wood.

Not many plants will thrive and flower in deep woodland shade but this is one of them. It should grow somewhere in Harmers Wood which would be an ideal habitat but it does sometimes appear in shady parts on the roadside verge of Hillside road north. It is easily missed because the flowers are tiny compared with the rest of the plant.

Climbing Corydalis (Ceratocapnos claviculata)

Look for at the side of Hillside Road North and by the path leading to the summit of Helsby Hill.

Although this native plant is very common at the top of the hill (the Helsby Hill Iron Age hill fort is covered in it) it is unusual to find so much concentrated in a small area. It flowers in Spring but continues throughout the year so you can sometimes find a flower in the winter. It has tendrils which allow it to climb up other plants or fences.

Heather or Ling (Calluna vulgaris)

Look for at at the edge of the quarries in Harmers Wood. You can see it from the paths. It is also on the flat rocks at the top of Helsby Hill

In late summer many of our upland areas are coloured purple by the flowers of our native Heather (Calluna vulgaris). Earlier in the year the deep purple Bell Heather (Erica cinerea) flowers on many moors and used to be found on top of Helsby Hill. The other common Heather is Cross-leaved heath (Erica tetralix) but that prefers damp or boggy conditions.

Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum)

Look for it on the verges of Hill Road north.

There are several species of native Geranium growing wild in the Helsby area and this is the commonest. Most plants have pink flowers and aromatic leaves the smell of which some folk find disgusting. It grows at the edges of many roads including the A56 and will encroach into your garden if you let it.