A Botanical Journey mostly from Kent & SE England

 My holiday in Kent should have carried on to the 1st June, however, the beds in our accomodation were so bad that we couldn't endure another night. So this field trip was my last day in Kent before returning to Cornwall. I hadn't planned to go on it as the family would take a dim view of me going off the day leaving them stranded in a remote farmhouse, however, the day was cool, overcast and rain was forecast, so I was granted leave of absence and went along. We met at Stelling Minnis and then walked south east towards Elhampark Wood. It was great to see KBRG members again, though it was a shame that the trip leader, Sue, had to cancel as she had suffered a knee injury. So the trip was led by Alfie who knew the area very well and is very knowledgable too. The woodland here is mildly acidic as the higher ground in Kent often is even though the bedrock is chalk. The chalk is covered with clay and flints which usually has eroded from the sides, but remains on the higher hilltops

I had a week's holiday to see family in the last week of May and we booked a farmhouse near Dover in a rural spot with free run of the farm to explore. Formerly living in North West Kent and now Cornwall See https://sylvatica2022.blogspot.com/ , it was a nice change of scenery and flora. The following are some of the wonderful plants I found on my travels, both out with family and recording alone in the evenings during our stay. While walking around the farm, it was noteable that a lot of building work had been done for the holiday accomodations and some areas had imported soil from an unknown source to level areas off. In these areas, I found many garden escapes and exotic plants, such as this Perennial Cornflower below. Centaurea montana Borago officinalis - Borage Hesperis matronalis - Dame's Violet, white form. However, there were over 200 other species in the 1km square that the farm was in, including the very rural road verges there. There were also two small woodlands