A Botanical Journey mostly from Kent & SE England

Th disadvantage of a job is that the time available for my hobby is now limited. The advantage is that when time is limited I make the most of what is around me locally. I live in the North Kent urban fringe only a few miles from Greater London but within yards of beautiful countryside and chalk downland. My first stop was the local Churchdown Woods near Fawkham. I've extensively surveyed the OS map grid square this is in and added over 30 unrecorded plant species last year to the records. The North West part of the woods come alive with Spring flowers now and they were already in bloom.  Carpets of Wood Anemones were out, dancing in the light breeze and reflecting beautifully in the dappled sunlight  beneath the trees. Anemone nemorosa   As quickly as they appear, they will go. Once the leaves start to open on the trees, cutting off the light, they will all seed very quickly. Parts of the wood were also carpeted in a mix of n

Tucked away in rural Kent is a delightfull small river that runs through a quiet bird song filled valley. A public footpath runs parallel to the stream, most of it shaded by the Alder that loves wet ground. Yet this delightful oasis is but a few minutes from the M20 and M26! The wet and boggy ground habitats gave me a chance to find wildflowers I normally miss, as most of my local area is dry chalky soils. Growing in a bog to one side of the river were several Marsh Marigolds, their bright yellow flowers standing out in the drab boggy ground. These are native to the UK but are often found near habitation as escapes from garden ponds or Council planting. These were truly wild though and a delight to see. Caltha palustris All over the place were carpets of Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage. These have no petals on their flowers but the anthers glow gold in sunlight giving the appearance of thousands of tiny yellow flowers. Chrysosplenium oppositifolium

There's something rather special in a non descript small wood near Cranbrook, called Hilly Wood. For at least 70 years there has been a naturalised colony of Cyclamen Daffodils with their unique swept back sepals. With my own garden Daffs beginning to wither (after starting to flower in late December) I wondered if I had left a visit too late. We eventually arrived and after a bit of a muddy walk down hill we came to the area where they grow. As we rounded a bend thousands of these peculiar Daffodils carpeted the woodland floor. These originate from Western Spain and Portugal, where apparently they are now endagered in the wild. Here's a photo showing the swept back petals. Simply beautiful in such numbers. Narcissus cyclaminius In places the ground was carpeted with these lovely red catkins. I've not noticed them before, but they came off a tree over 20m tall. I later looked them up and they are from a Hybrid Black