Spotting flowers growing wild in South East UK
In June we camped by the river Seine We took Ethel the campervan on her first overseas trip with us to France (she went surfing to Spain before we knew her!). We wanted to start off gently, so took her on the ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe, then a short 90 minute drive to a…
Flora of Dorset We took Ethel the van for a weekend away last June. We had booked a boat trip to see the few puffins that can be found on the coast nearby during the summer but unfortunately it was cancelled due to high winds. Instead we spent a lovely day rambling over RSPB Arne. June…
Local Leguminosae The Pea family Fabaceae or Leguminosae includes many flowers including Vetches and Vetchlings, Clovers, Bird’s Foot Trefoil and many more. There seemed to be quite a lot of these legumes when I visited the Last Meadow in Seaford in early June. A blooming meadow But there were flowers of all types blowing in…
Flowering around the town This month, either side of my big campervan holiday I wandered around my Sussex hometown to see what wildflowers I could find. Early June blooms on Seaford Head On a hot early summer day I went for a walk looking for Twayblade orchids and found a Common Spotted orchid at the same…
Campervan touring 2021 In June 2021 we took Ethel the campervan for her longest road trip yet. We drove north from our Sussex home to Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire, then on to Scarborough in North Yorkshire, Robin Hood’s Bay near Whitby, Harrogate, York, Wensleydale, then on to Buxton in Derbyshire. Robin Hood’s Bay coastal wildflowers…
Flora of Grin Low Solomon’s Temple is a folly built on a hill above Buxton in the Peak District in Derbyshire, and is on a site of special scientific interest, SSSI at Grin Low. The area around Solomons Temple is chalk grassland, so a home from home for me! The surrounding woods and underlying cavern…
Looking back at my photos, it turns out that we visited Fountains Abbey on the same day as Jervaulx Abbey – that was a fab day out! Fountains Abbey is another ruined Cistercian monastery in North Yorkshire. June wildflowers at the Abbey The river Skell runs through the Fountains Abbey grounds and on into Studley…
Flowers amongst Jervaulx Abbey ruins Jervaulx Abbey is a ruined Cistercian monastery in Wensleydale in North Yorkshire. It was a beautiful calm spot to wander on a sunny June day. Wildflowers and stone I loved the combination of ancient monument with nature. It was good to see Vipers bugloss away from the coast Echium vulgare is…
Lincolnshire beauty spot Early in June, Mike and I headed off North in Ethel our trusty campervan. We were aiming towards Yorkshire and Derbyshire, so stopped off at lovely Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire on the way. Woodhall Spa was a beautiful spot in the woods with a particularly memorable cream tea and bakery. Kirkby Moor…
Flowering in my Sussex garden this summer Following on from my similar May blog post about garden wildflowers, here is what was in flower a month later. White herb robert – Geranium robertianium This continues my theme of what is a weed and what is a wildflower? My friend Mercy sent me this plant, which…