Distant Day Out - Staines Moor

Sometimes you just don't want to write any lab reports, and you feel like heading out to a grassy moor in near-30℃ temperatures. Well, I felt like doing that last week, when I went out to Staines Moor in Surrey for the day.

It's worth noting that I didn't visit all of the moor that day, that would be insane. Staines Moor is nearly 500 hectares large, though nearly half of that is taken up by three massive reservoirs; even so, I only trekked along one section of the River Colne, which winds through the moor. And if you're wondering "what gives", the reason is I visited as part of a trip with my uni's botanical society. There were around six of us that day, and for me, this was the first time I had been part of the society. 

A hot, dry day on the moor

But even we weren't the only society there - we were part of a larger group which consisted of a few societies, most notably the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI), who were looking to record a few wetland plant species growing on the moor. By now, it should be somewhat apparent I was a bit of a novice - I could hardly tell you what species a random plant is without looking it up online - and I was mostly coming along to walk around a bit. Some BSBI members were capable of seeing a plant growing on the side of the street and identify its Latin name immediately; I only know the common name of some garden flowers.

Staines Moor happens to be an SSSI, which is a classification denoting sites of nature conservation, and it's also a Ramsar site, meaning it's a wetlands site of high importance, though classified as part of the "South West London Waterbodies" for the latter. Just thought that was interesting context worth adding.

Getting to Staines Moor 

The Colne beneath the bypass

Staines Moor is boxed in by the Staines Bypass, the M25, and Heathrow Airport, on almost all sides. This means that one of the entrances is accessible partly through walking alongside the bypass, which was a strange experience. It also means that whenever you're on the moorland, you can expect the faint breeze and birdsong to be interrupted by a plane taking off not far away every few minutes, as well as the distant rushing of cars and trains. It's almost unusual for a conservation area this important to be so close to so many pollutants; then again, that's down to Staines's geography more than anything.

On the bypass

The walk around Staines Moor

The trip followed a pretty simple structure - we'd find an area, look around at some plants, and our guide would talk about how we can identify the plant. I admit, I was quickly lost after only a few sentences, but it was pretty cool to learn how diverse seagrass can get. People jotted down species names in notebooks, or referred to wildflower books; I stood around and admired the nature instead. 

The Colne by the entrance

Despite the heat, it was almost pleasant to bask along the banks of the Colne. We weren't far from the Colne's mouth, it being a tributary that flows into the Thames in Staines, meaning the banks were far enough apart that you couldn't realistically cross it unless you had good boots. There was grass all around you, though I doubt I'd get away with calling it just grass. Refer to this conversation I had with someone there:

"That's some interesting grass in the river."

"Well, try telling a botanist that's grass..."

 

More Colne

I had lots of fun photographing close-ups of the grass, either way. Two cool species we saw were the yellow flag and sweet flag, which can be distinguished by crushing them and smelling - if you get an almost citrusy scent, odds are it's the sweet flag. 

Grass (if you couldn't tell)

Around an hour into our trip, we found one of the species we'd been looking for - Veronica catenata, or the pink water speedwell. They're pretty, but difficult to photograph, especially when doing close-ups. They have pink flowers, obviously, as you can barely see in the photo below amidst the green.

Pink water speedwell hidden in grass

Not far away, you'll even find the blue water speedwell (Veronica anagallis-aquatica), which differs from the pink variant in a few ways, but the most obvious one is the blue water speedwell has blue flowers.

Pretty sure there's a blue water speedwell here...

I won't necessarily bore you with all the details, besides if I did, it would very quickly descend into botany speak where every other word is a genus name. There were some other cool things I saw, though. I was surprised to see there were cows and horses roaming freely around the moor, for one, with some bathing in the Colne to get out of the heat. I managed to take some decent photos, even, and I will admit to being a bit frightened by the cows when one of them suddenly got up and began to slowly move. We also spotted a pike in the river, though it was pretty well camouflaged by the muddy water and it scurried off not long after. 

   

There were also some lovely buttercups around the area, such as these celery-leaved buttercups. Part of the moor was completely full of these, and it looked wonderful, like a bright yellow carpet. There were bulbous buttercups lower down the moor, but I didn't photograph any, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Some celery-leaved buttercups

Oh, and there was the odd bird as well, though I couldn't personally identify any. There was a red kite, apparently, which is cool. The nearby Staines Reservoirs are reportedly great birdwatching sites, so I might go there soon (and bring binoculars this time).  

On the whole, it was a great trip. Our guide was brilliant and explained things really well, and I wish I knew more botany to be able to better understand everything he spoke about. It's a pretty cool corner of Surrey which I'd imagine is easy to not bother visiting, since it's somewhat off the beaten path. 

 

You might be wondering what I thought of Staines itself...I didn't see much of it, I didn't feel like getting up even earlier to wander around for a bit. It's a pretty standard town, though, I'm not sure why it has the reputation of being a miserable town, but maybe that's for a future blogpost.

By the way, have you ever been to Staines Moor? Have you had any unexpected encounters with cows before? I'd love to hear your thoughts: please share any comments you have, or send me an email through this link!