Today Peachysteve and I walked up the stream in one of the steep-sided cloughs in Henacre Wood at the Queensbury end of Shibden Valley.
We were looking to record the location of the Soft Shield Fern Laurence and I saw earlier in the year.

We missed the Soft Shield Fern but found a Hard Shield Fern on the other side

Collecting a specimen involved a bit of ‘extreme botanising’ from Peachysteve

Polystichum aculeatum, a specialist of damp wooded gorges.
The first I’ve seen and a nice one to add to the list

Julian Birkhead