Spotting flowers growing wild in South East UK
Wildflower spotting in spring 2024 This is my second year of taking part in the Wildflower Society diary. As a newbie I have to stick to a set list of common wildflowers, and record them on a spreadsheet when I find them, along with the place, date and grid reference if possible. Last year I…
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 Upper Dove Valley While we were in Derbyshire, we went on a beautiful circular walk in the Upper Dove Valley in the Peak District, starting at the picturesque village of Hartington, towards the remains of the Norman Pilsbury castle (see main photo), across the river and back. We saw very few people on…
Local floral highlights of May 2021 Flowers of very early May Call me a cheat but I couldn’t resist including these two lovelies from the 30th April! Both the English bluebells Hyacinthoides non-scripta and Garlic mustard Alliaria petiolata were looking so lush and abundant! In bloom in early May It was about this time that…
Wildflowers on the Local Nature Reserve in June In May when I visited Seaford Head, a Sussex Wildlife Trust ranger advised that I come back in a few weeks to see the difference, so I took her at her word. You could probably tell from my May post that there is a range of different…
Seaford walks in early Spring Health walks around town spotting wild flowers February was a very wet month and there wasn’t much to see, after all the early bloomers in January, so I’ve lumped it together with March. It has been very mild though and I don’t think there has been any frost round here…
Wildflowers on the Crab and Winkle Way After wildflower spotting along the north Kent coast, I headed west again to Whitstable then south, inland towards Canterbury. Wildflowers of Long Rock SSSI Swalecliffe Many flowers spotted in this Site of Special Scientific Interest were ones listed in my previous post. Crab and Winkle Way over…
Town plants Walking around Seaford in winter There are plenty of wild plants in flower even in January as evidenced by the BSBI New Year Plant Hunt. I go walking most days, and either I walk to my dried flower workshop or for a brisk half hour health walk, and there is often something new to…
A buttery yellow wildflower We have a community pond at the end of our road, and at this time of year its edges are a sea of yellow with celandine flowers. They seem to love the damp conditions, and the shade provided by a small stand of trees edging the footpath. The buttery yellow blooms,…