A Botanical Journey mostly from Kent & SE England

This reserve sits on a dry chalk valley in the North Downs, South of Sittingbourne. It used to be renowned for its variety of orchids, but these have diminshed over the years. However, there are still lots of plants of interest along with butterflies, insects and more. It's too early in the year to see any orchids, but the single Lizard Orchid is already growing its rosette. I don't know why it hasn't spread over the years to form a colony as it's flowered the last 2 years for sure. Elsewhere in Kent, Lizard Orchid colonies have doubled in size over a few years, so, overall they seem to be doing well in Kent. Himantoglossum hircinum But at this time of the year, the grassy banks of the reserve are dotted with Violets. It takes a while to get the hang of identifying the different types though. It's easy to think they are all Sweet Violets, which flower first, however, with the topsy turvy weather, Dog and HairyViolets are also out now.

Ranscombe Farm is a fantastic place for wildflowers all year round in the Medway Valley with good public access. It is run by the only charity for wildflowers, Plantlife, of which I am a member. Rather than wax lyrical about it, read about it from this web link. Ranscombe Farm We didn't have long for a walk, which is the usual in midweek due to work. The main car park is right by the A228 main road, which is also managed for wildflowers. Right by the car was a rosette of the Man Orchid. These are Endangered nationally, but are fairly common in North Kent. Orchis anthropophora I then had a look along the main road verge which is also managed for wildflowers. The first flowering plant was Hairy Bittercress, a troublesome weed in many gardens. They are very similar to Wavy Bittercress and can distinguished easily by Hairy having the seeds overtopping the flowers, which is rare in Wavy Bittercress. Cardamine hirsuta Another tiny flower along the

It's surprising what you can photograph in just one hour. That's all the time I had spare before work, so I took a quick walk around Kent Wildlife Trust's Longfield Chalk Bank and the adjoining sports field. This photo was taken last April. The grass is quite a bit shorter at the moment. Being a small area of chalk grassland it will be a while before it comes to life. However, with the grasses being short, I could easily see the tiny specks of purple here and there in the open turf. On a closer look they were Early Dog Violets, a pleasant change from the more numerous Sweet Violets at this time of the year and a first for this venue for me. Unlike Sweet Violets, these have pointed sepals, the spur being small but darker than the petals and usually un-notched. Violets are quite the little beauties. The Early Dog Violet is called :   Viola reichenbachiana I've not yet been able to photograph any insects so far this Spring, so I was pl

Early March is a transition time from Winter to Spring with the Winter finally finishing off the stragglers from last year and the beginnings of the new Spring wildflowers starting to appear. Here's what I found this week. My previous blogs can be found at barbus59.tumblr.com First up was a visit to Kent Wildlife Trust reserve at Stockbury in Kent. The woodland floor was already carpeted with Bluebells, but a few were already flowering. In a month or so, there will be a huge carpet of them. Being mostly the native Hyacinthoides non-scripta their scent will fill the wood. Early Purple Orchid rosettes were now showing as well. The leaves on Orchis mascula are nearly always spotted, making them easy to distinguish from the more common Bluebell leaves coming up now as well. However, I was fortunate enough to find the rarer unspotted version as well. This wood, has in the past thrown up pure white Early Purple Orchid flowers and they usually have u