A Botanical Journey mostly from Kent & SE England

This area comprises of mostly unimproved grassland with cattle grazing and saltwater influence from the nearby Thames estuary and the tidal inlet of Yantlet Creek. I didn't really know what I might find as the monads I was to visit had hardly any records, probably as to get to them was a lengthy walk. Stiff Salt Marsh Grass Puccinellia rupestris Here's a view of Southend from Allhallows marshes. The telephoto lens compresses the distance. There's about 3 miles of River Thames estuary between the grass sea wall and the buildings of Southend! It also shows the typical habitat of the area. I then found Ononis spinosa (Spiny Restharrow) and Trifolium fragifera (Strawberry Clover) both Kent RPR species, but as they featured in the last blog, I won't go into detail again. However, the Strawberry Clover was a big hit with Red Tailed Bumblebees. This one was rather faded! Bombus lapidariu...

The coastal areas of the Romney Marsh and Dungeness in particular, are very well recorded. However, go inland a bit and there are are opportunities to fill in the gaps for the BSBI 2020 atlas. Here's what I found this day. I was hoping to find Lesser Water Plantain, but that was not to be. This is the regular Water-Plantain, identified by its large elongated leaves. I then found an unrecorded colony of Marsh Mallow close to a very popular Romney Marsh pub. Althaea officinalis Here's a habitat photo, not exactly a beautiful setting, but a welcome sight all the same. Arctium minus Lesser Burdock, a very common plant, though it's always interesting looking for a Greater Burdock or a hybrid between the two. It's surprising what can turn up, even on an arable field. This Borage was found next to  a large rubble pile that had been abandoned for years. No doubt th...