I'm an expert in the wild and here's why you should go in search of wild crane’s-bills

The four seeds are contained in tiny cups at the base of this beak-like structure and as the pod ripens, the stalk eventually breaks into quarters each one bearing a seed. Essentially when the structure fully ripens and dries out, the sections of pod ping out and throw the seed away from the plant. If the plant is lucky this mechanism may take the seed further with wind dispersal taking it away on the breeze.

Some of the cranes-bill , like meadow cranes-bills, are perennials and quite large, whereas others such as ‘shining cranes-bill’ (pictured on a brick wall in Heeley, Sheffield) are annuals, and so their seed dispersal is important to survival. Shining crane’s-bill is not common in our region and is a plant of disturbed ground like disused railway lines, roadsides, hedge-banks, and walls with lime mortar.

Its natural habitat is rocky outcrops particularly with limestone. It is the leaves that are shiny and make this little plant rather distinctive. Like many of the annual crane’s-bills, the leaves and stems acquire a red tint as the year progresses, this is probably due to chemicals called ‘anthocyanins’ and which help the plant survive in stressful situations such as during droughts or nutrient deficiency. These annual geraniums tend to live in quite extreme conditions.

Familiar species are ‘herb Robert’ (which is also a rather pernicious garden weed!), round-leaved crane’s-bill, dove’s-foot crane’s-bill, small-flowered crane’s-bill, and a few others. The common stork’s-bill has similar flowers to these species, but its leaves are very different.

This does occur though not commonly and tends to be more frequent around coastal areas though I once found it in a small heathy area by Sheffield’s canal. I did once discover a patch on the lawn outside Sheffield Hallam University’s main entrance on Arundel Gate, and suspect it came on sandy boots from our student field trips to Gibraltar Point National Nature Reserve near Skegness!