A Botanical Journey mostly from Kent & SE England

  This is the last blog for 2021 for my Kent trips and covers September to mid November. First up is a recording trip I made to a rural road and adjacent fields near Upper Halling. This had a wonderful roadside flora given it was on chalk and mostly untouched by mowing, sprays and fertilisers. It didn't take long to find my first rare species, Dwarf Spurge, a lover of chalky fields. It's low growing with quite small pointy leaves, so it stands out as different to other Spurges. You will likely only find it on disturbed alkaline soils too. Euphorbia exigua  Here's what you would see from a standing height.  Three Toadflax species were nearby, Round and Sharp Leaved Fluellens with their tiny but exquisite flowers and Common Toadflax too. The photo is of Round-leaved Fluellen.  Kickxia spuria    A surprise find was several metres of roadside verge covered in Meadow Cranesbill. I think these likely came from fly tipped garden material as they are pretty much absent in the wild

 It's November as I write this, which is a shame. I would prefer to keep my blogs current so you, the reader, can go out and try and find some of the amazing wildflowers I come across too. However, life conspires against me to keep things like this blog up to date. So instead, look at this as either nostalgic of the season now gone, or as inspiration for planning a trip next Summer to find such plants for yourself. Either way, I hope you enjoy reading this blog and gain some inspiration for the wonders of the natural world on our doorstep. By the time August comes along, most or our wild orchids have come and gone, but Violet Helleborine may still be found in flower. Most years, I find new colonies in suitable woodland habitats around the county. Here, I found 3 plants with a few flowers still open on a road verge on Pembury Walks. Nearby, were also some Broad-leaved Helleborines still in flower too, also a new find for the monad. Epipactis purpurata This is Toad Rush (below), a sm