Cornish Botany August 2019 - Part 2

-
I hope you enjoyed Part 1, but if you missed it, just scroll down past this blog to see some beautiful wildflowers and views from Cornwall. Of course, any trip to Cornwall isn't complete without a trip to Land's End and while the majority of the tourists were in the shops and taking selfies by the famous mileage signpost I went for a short walk to take in the flora.


Heather, Bell Heather, Gorse and assorted yellow daisy composites made for a breathtaking display all around the area.


These photos really don't do the colours justice, but it was a joy to take it all in along with lungfulls of fresh and unpolluted oceanic air.




Look a bit closer between the plants mentioned above and you could see the pastel blue flowers of Sheep's Bit, an uncommon plant in Kent, but prolific here.


 




Jasione montana









A close up view of Heather, so common in the north and west of the UK yet now on the Kent RPR due to its rapid decline in our county - we have very few habitats left for it now.











Calluna vulgaris















Goldenrod found in these coastal areas are always short, stumpy and densely covered in flowers, no doubt due to strong salty winds blowing in from the sea. The inland form almost seems like a different species as it is tall, straggly and with the flowers all well spaced apart. I think I prefer the coastal form as shown below.

Solidago virgaurea



The local bumblebees preferred it too and simply crawled from flower to flower without taking off


There was another tiny plant in between the bigger plants, Wild Thyme 
Thymus polytrichus


Near to this rock were several gone to seed remains of Heath Spotted Orchids which would have been nice to see. It is worth noting that landscapes and floras change throughout the year as seasons change so there is always something new to see, even at familiar sites.



A blaze of colour from the assorted wildflowers of Land's End


I hope you enjoyed Part 2 - Part 3 will follow soon and is the concluding instalment of the flora I found in Cornwall.

Take care
Dave

Comments

Post a Comment

Comments welcome from those interested in my articles. For spammers don't bother as I moderate all comments prior to posting them.

Popular posts from this blog

Orchids and Chalk Grassland Flowers - East Kent 29/04/17

-
Image
I thought it would be a good time to go the the National Trust's White Cliffs of Dover area for wildflowers, so we set off in good weather, hoping for a great day out.  On arrival, we parked in the first NT car park and walked down a dodgy tiny path to the old tramway. There were sheer drops off the edge of it! You can just see it in this photo. As ever there were interesting views of the port and France was easily visible this day. Anyway, back to the wildflowers. The most obvious plant now flowering in their hundreds were Horseshoe Vetch. Hippocrepis comosa Also blazing the cliffsides with colour were many Wild Cabbages, pretty much only found in these habitats now in Kent. Brassica oleracea var. oleracea This photo close to the cliff edge shows Wild Cabbage, Wallflower and Hoary Stock all in the same photo. There were tiny surprises as well, like this Lesser Centaury, not even as big as ...
Read more

A Journey To Some Fine Kent Orchid Sites 14th May 2016

-
Image
Wild Orchids hold a fascination and are what drew me into botany in the first place. That sense of wonder when you first see a Bee Orchid, wondering what the hell it was! Well it's a few years on from those wonder filled days, and I have now seen most, if not all of Kent's orchids. However it doesn't stop me from going back once in a while to re-discover their beauty and that's what this day was about. Where possible, I am happy to publish where I find wild orchids, provided they are already well documented on the internet. Sometimes I have to keep locations quiet though, in case of theft or trampling of very rare orchids. First up was a site near Faversham with just such a rarity, a hybrid of the Monkey and Man Orchid. This hybrid hasn't been seen here for many years but it has occurred in the past, it's a stunning plant! It wasn't very tall, only about 8-10" but crammed with flowers. Luckily, I saw it at its best with all the flowers ope...
Read more

Of Helleborines & Other Botanical Wonders - Kent 17-21/07/17

-
Image
The end of July is the peak flowering times for Helleborines in Kent. These wild orchids can grow to three or four feet high and some can have a hundred flowers on their tall spikes. The first trip on 17th July was to a local nature reserve at Dry Hill, Sundridge in Kent. This is close to the A21 and is renowned as a geological site, nothing much else gets a mention, but it has a big population of Broad-Leaved helleborines (for such a small reserve) and this is what I went to see there this day. Here's one of the geological features of Dry Hill reserve, close to the entrance. It didn't take long to find the Helleborines, they are pretty much all around the A21 side of the reserve. Count the flowers on a plant that you can see, then double it for those behind and tou can see how many flowers one plant can produce, quite amazing really. Here's a selection of flowers from this population in their usual form. Epipactis...
Read more