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Botanical Catch Up! Kent - April 2018

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As usual at this time of the year, I have fallen way behind in writing up my blogs. The warming, lengthening days and the explosion of species coming into flower, means I spend much of my free time out and about recording and photographing. As such, here's a selection from April of some amazing rare and beautiful common plants I found. First up is a special rare plant only found in Kent and Bedfordshire (to my knowledge), the Grey Mouse-ear. I don't think anyone really knows if it's a native or ancient introduction. Cerastium brachypetallum There were about 10 plants seen on a narrow compacted field edge on the Southern edge of Churchdown Woods, Fawkham. When I first found this new colony, there were hundreds along the edge. The following two years, the field was heavily sprayed and I saw none at all, so I am pleased they weren't totally wiped out. Here's a habitat photo for the Grey Mouse-ear, they were on the last bit

Botanical Recording in Marden, Kent - 08/04/18

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Marden is best known for its nature reserve containing thousands of Green - winged Orchids and the monad this is in is heavily recorded for plant records. However, as is often the case, the monads around and outside of the reserve had very few records. So I set about finding some to even things up a bit. Early Spring isn't the best time for high numbers of species, but I do find species that have disappeared by the time the warmer weather comes (sometimes called ephemerals). One such Ephemeral is the humble Common Whitlowgrass, which is in abundance during March, but has completely disappeared in Kent by May. Erophila verna s.s. Trees are always worth looking out for and their "flowers" make them easier to identify at this time of year. You will often find this tree next to (or in) water and this was by a wet water filled ditch.  It is of course the Alder tree.  This pho

Isle of Grain, Kent - 16/04/18

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The easier to access parts of Grain are well recorded, however, there were a couple of monads with very few records, so my partner and I decided to walk to them to see what we could find. There were to the South and South East of the old power station (whose iconic chimney was recently blown up and demolished). The large flowers of Oxford Ragwort couldn't be missed with lots in flower along the sea wall. It's a lover of wasteground, railway tracks and other such places. Senecio squalidus Its leaves are well separated and more pointy than the blousy lobes which Common Ragwort displays.   With the cold Spring, I was hoping to find some ephemeral species that would be missed later in the year. This Sticky Mouse-ear is one such plant. Its main characteristic is the hairy close knit heads of flower buds that other mouse ears don't have. Cerastium glomeratum I kept an eye out for the Sea Mouse-ear, very easy to spot as it only has 4 (n