Cheddar is famous for more than just cheese! East of the village the world-renowned gorge carves a path through the Carboniferous Limestone of the Mendip Hills. The narrow road that winds up the Gorge hugs spectacular cliffs to the south and steep, rocky slopes to the north. Along these cliffs, in sunny and mostly inaccessible spots, the Cheddar Pink Dianthus gratianopolitanus grow, a species not known to occur naturally elsewhere in Britain other than a few nearly crags and quarries.
David has lived in the region for 25 years, and made many visits to the Gorge in search of both plants and insects. Although this focus of this day shall be the flora, David is an all-round naturalist so we shall take the opportunity to look at any birds and insects that we may come across. Over the day we shall cover less than five kilometres, taking our time along the sometimes-rocky paths to look for plants and insects. Apart from the famous Cheddar Pink, we shall search for Rock Stonecrop Petrosedum rupestre, the very rare and local Cut-leaved Selfheal Prunella laciniata and if we look very closely, we might find Slender Bedstraw Galium pumilum.
The bright yellow splashes of Common Rock-rose Helianthemum nummularium occasionally attract the very local Cistus Forester Adscita geryon, a relative of the much commoner Six-spot Burnet Zygaena filipendulae. We should come across Brown Argus Aricia agestis and even the occasional Green Hairstreak Callophrys rubi.
We will head down Jacob’s Ladder into the village and have a look at the clear-water stream covered in Water Crowfoot and occasionally frequented by Kingfishers and Water Voles. After some lunch at one of the cafes in the village we will walk back up the Gorge looking for Orpine Hylotelephium telephium, the endemic Cheddar Whitebeam Sorbus cheddarensis, and possibly some interesting Hawk-weeds, Hieracium.
