Red means danger ... if you’re a fly
MY favourite mossland plants is very dangerous indeed...if you are a fly.
The sundew is a brilliant carnivorous plant that spreads in beautiful red and orange summer carpets on top of our mosses between Salford, Wigan and Warrington.
The round-leaved sundew has sticky, dew-covered tendrils that tempts in unsuspecting insects and then devours them.
They can grow up to 20cm and spread over large areas, where flies fear to flutter.
Because the sundew lives in acidic habitats where there are not enough nutrients for many plants to survive, the sundew evolved into a carnivore to feed its hunger.
If you see insects trapped and helplessly stuck, it is pretty gruesome.
The sundew will then curl itself inwards, wrap up and digest its prey.
Oh, how the people who love birds of prey but don’t like seeing them hunting in their garden must be wringing their hands. “Those poor insects!” Anyway, we had a brilliant day out on Risley Moss with Josh Styles, of the North West Rare Plant Initiative, planting some of the more rare sundews, oblong-leaves and great sundew.
Josh also had some white beak sedge and bog asphodel, which are rare.
In fact, a couple of these plants haven’t been seen in these parts for 150 years.
It is all part of the Manchester Mosslands Reintroduction Project, which also aims to bring back the Manchester Argus butterfly to the county, funded by your lottery ticket through the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Casey Group.
Wandering round the moss with assorted scientific minds from the Wildlife Trust, Natural England, Chester Zoo and Warrington Rangers was a lovely education and we even came across another carnivore, the string-like lesser bladderwort, which is thriving in one of the pools.
Back to the sundew, it has greeny red leaves, which are covered in red hairs and arranged at the base of the plant in a rosette.
White or pink flowers spread in summer on top of hairless red stems.
The round-leaved can be distinguished from oblong-leaved by its rounder leaves, of course.
Josh was happy to share his knowledge of the species he was planting and which he grows at home.
His enthusiasm was infectious and I really left the moss feeling as though I had learned something special.
I am certainly looking forward to returning to Risley to see how our ‘baby’ sundews are progressing.
To learn more about the reintroduction go to our website www.lancswt.org.uk/news/manchesterargus-mosslandreintroduction.To support the work of the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside, text WILD09 with the amount you want to donate to 70070.