A Botanical Journey mostly from Kent & SE England

Hoo is a small town on the West bank of the tidal River Medway. As you can see from this photo, there are numerous areas with tidal saltmarsh, so I thought I would have a look around this type of habitat for a change from the usual chalk grassland species. The silver grey looking plant in the centre of the photo is Sea Wormwood, a species on the Kent Rare Plant Register (RPR), mainly because saltmarsh habitats are being lost due to sea defences and development. They're not flowering yet though.     Artemisia maritima I was at least 2 weeks too early to see most plants of the saltmarsh at their best, but the first Golden Samphire was coming into bloom, another Kent RPR species. They are quite common along the Thames and Medway estuary but seem absent entirely elsewhere in the county and in much of East Sussex. Inula crithmoides This area was littered with the old wrecks of boats. Once upon a time someone no doubt took out a...

Nightjars and similar rare birds are what Tudely Woods is managed for by the RSPB. There's also a rare butterfly they have tried (so far unsuccessfully) to reintroduce, but the modern RSPB had a bigger agenda than birds. They have transformed into a force for nature and manage their reserves for all wildlife now (not just birds). As such, I have become a member and I visited this reserve to see what wildflowers I could find and record. I had decided to record all species that I could identify South of the car park, so this covered two OS monad squares. Overall, I managed about 70 species per square, which is quite good going really. There were many grasses, rushes and sedges which unfortunateley I can't identify yet. I just don't have the time to learn them at the moment. A common woodland species which loves growing in the shade is Enchanter's Nightshade, a delicate tiny flowered spike rising from big dark green leaves, suited to the shade under woodland ...

The word "wasteground" tends to denote wasted space that could be put to better use. It is often applied to brownfield sites and as such no-one really cares if they're then developed or built on. After all, it was just "wasteground". Unfortunately, nature thinks otherwise, and wasteground sites are often abundant with a diversity of insects and plants that have been eradicated elsewhere, either by building houses, roads or industrial estates, or by being sprayed to the point of extinction in arable fields by modern farming practices. I have some "wasteground" near me in Longfield, which, no doubt in time, will become a housing estate. Ever increasing population means an ever diminishing place for nature. Anyway, enough of the doom and gloom! I spent about an hour here and this is some of what I found. The area is basically rectangular on a South facing slope on chalk, bounded by a railway line on one side, an arable field on another and 2 roads f...

So my Welsh Botanical Trip continued. If you missed Parts 1 and 2 please scroll down, they're well worth viewing for the rare flowers alone, let alone my evocative, witting writings - ok just for the photos then. After finishing at Cae Blaen-dyffryn I drove South to Kenfig in South Wales. Unknown to me I had set the satnav to take the easy route so it took about 3/4 hour longer in the school run traffic than it would have had I used my head and gone via the M4! Added to that, I stopped off en route a few times for a look around (like botanists do). This was the view South of Ammanford in the hills. A short way from this area, I descended a long steep hill and a small stream became a river creating bogs along the way. I stopped off at one - I have no idea where I was by now! I had to put wellies on as my walking boots were soaked through from Cae Blaen-dyffryn. It was worth it though, as I soon found the gem of the bogs, Bog Asphodel. As you can see it had been ra...