A weekend in Sussex woodland

At the end of July Mike and I took Ethel the camper van to the other side of Sussex to visit friends.

It was very wet underfoot but we managed not to get rained on!

Flora of Guestling Wood

Blue Star Creeper – Pratia pedunculata

I have never seen this Pratia before and had to do an image search to find it but I’m confident in the ID 🙂

Hogweed florets – Heracleum sphondylium

The large hogweed plants were growing on the edge of the woods and were really pretty.

Enchanters Nightshade – Circaea lutetiana

Another one new to me. Apparently it is common.

St Johns Wort – Hypericum

This is not Perforate St Johns Wort, but I don’t know what it is as there are so many to choose from. It was inside the woods rather than on the edge, and the long slender stems seemed to trail. *2022 update at bottom of page!

Campion – Silene

I’m not entirely sure what type of Campion these seed heads belong to but they’re very decorative.

In other woods

Broad-leaved Helleborine orchid – Epipactis helleborine

There are a lot of trees in this part of East Sussex! This Helleborine was growing right next to the footpath.

Skullcap – Scutellaria galericulata

This Skullcap was growing out from the cover of the trees and onto our campervan pitch.

Surrounding fields

Timothy grass – Phleum pratense

I don’t usually try to ID grasses but this one jumped out at me. We were walking through a hay field when we saw this Timothy, and I recognised the grass from our dried flowers shop daisyshop.co.uk. It is grown as a feed but is also popular dyed in bright colours for floristry.

White Clover – Trifoliumm repens

While Mike and I sat in some shorter grass to eat our lunch, it dawned on me that I hadn’t any decent pics of White Clover. Conveniently I didn’t even have to stand up to take this!

2021 was a good year for orchids    |   Read more about orchids

Other campervan trips this year include touring Derbyshire and Yorkishire and visiting Brockenhurst.

*2022 Update about Hypericums – I have just received my Wild Flower Society Magazine for Autumn 2022 and it contains a handy pull-out ID sheet for UK St John’s-worts by Peter G. Leonard. It mentions Hypericum humifusum which seems a likely candidate. Read more on my St John’s-wort page.