On my regular health walks around Seaford I often take the Alfriston Rd heading out of town and pass a dog-walking field. It turns out this is called the Last Meadow and is a well known haven for orchids and other wildflowers. When I saw Plantlife had a Great British Wildflower Hunt I thought I’d use this area to give it a go.
The Plantlife hunt asked me to choose between Town, Woods and Country – I chose Country because the field is on the edge of farmland on the very outskirts of the town. On that brief 15 min walk across the site, I spotted plenty of flowers the website suggested, including ox-eye daisy, cow parsley, bird’s foot trefoil, red clover and common dog violet. Unfortunately when I pressed the Submit button, the whole lot was lost (I did try it again the same day on a Town location but the same thing happened)!
I was tuned in to this plant having just seen some up on Seaford HeadAMP and spending a few hours this spring trying to get to grips with differentiating between violas.
This wildflower was new to me. It immediately jumped out at me by its large size (similar in height to oil seed rape but bushier) and it’s attractive dark glossy foliage.
Winter cress – Barbarea vulgaris – Last Meadow Seaford – May 2020
I completely support the idea of this hunt – presumably it produces data useful to Plantlife as well as introducing the public to wildflowers and as an antidote to “plant blindness”. Personally I’d have prefered more plants to choose from (there were only 24 on the list) but I guess there is a good reason for that. But I won’t use it again as it crashed both times.
I’m hoping to visit the nearby Last Wood too in the next few weeks.