A Botanical Journey mostly from Kent & SE England

Longfield is a small unremarkable town a few miles South East of Dartford on the edge of the urban fringe. As such I am fortunate that within a few minutes I can walk into arable field, Beech woodland or chalk grassland. Here's a few species I found on this walk, culminating in a first record of a nationally rare and endangered plant for Longfield itself. This is the uncommon Field Mouse-ear, which is in decline. There is plenty of it in a disused meadow close to the town, but I fear it will be built on within a few years. Cerastium arvense There were also large stands of Crosswort with its bright yellow flowers, another Kent RPR species due to habitat loss. Cruciata laevipes Lots of flowers means insects and seeds and this Corn Bunting was one of several I saw. Hawthorn was now in flower, though this pink tinged tree was not what it seemed at first to be. It was a Midland Hawthorn with all its flowers having 2 styles.

This belated blog will show some of the amazing plants that we discovered on a Kent Botanical Recording Group field trip to a a private woodland in East Kent. Permission had been given to survey the flora which in turn will assist the landowner in managing his land for the wildlife. This trip occurred at the end of Spring when it was warm with rain every few days, unlike now (mid July) where it has been dry for over a month with roasting temperatures. As such, I was pleased to find a very late flowering Wood Anemone at the edge of the above clearing. Anemone nemorosa Another straggler from the Spring were several clumps of Cuckooflower, with their delicately veined pink petals. Cardamine pratensis Crosswort and Bugle made attractive contrasting stands in a field at the woodland edge. Cruciata laevipes and Ajuga reptans In the same field were numerous Houndstongue plants in flower. They are quite frequent on chalk and also in coastal

As usual at this time of the year, I am hopelessly behind on my blogs, so I'll keep them short on words in a vain attempt to catch up. I hope you like the photos and it encourages you to go and see these plants for yourself. Starting off with early May finds at Sandwich dunes. Green-winged Orchids  - Anacamptis morio   Thyme Leaved Sandwort trying to impersonate Small Mouse-ear. Arenaria serpyllifolia s.s. Carpets of Sea Sandwort coming into flower - Honckenya peploides  The tiny flowers of Early Forget-me-not, numerous in the short turf - Myosotis ramosissima Early May habitat photo of Sandwich, doesn't look much but the wildflowers like it. Yellow Rattle - Rhinanthus minor Wild Clary coming into flower - Salvia verbenaca The larger form and flowers of Common Vetch - Vicia sativa subsp segetalis Look for a much smaller vetch and you might find the diminuitive Spring Vetch - Vicia lathyroides We