A Botanical Journey mostly from Kent & SE England

This is a continuation of my last blog, having left Ranscombe Farm to replace my camera battery.  I visited a chalk bank by the tidal River Medway at Strood (from McDonald's to Diggerland) . It was only constructed within the last 10 years and contains a host of wildflowers and a few aliens naturalised from nearby flower beds. There is some salt marsh as well. There was a single very large Broom bush in full flower, oddly it was growing just above the high tide line. I;m sure a winter storm surge would kill it off! Cytisus scoparius The chalk bank was dotted with Kidney Vetch.  Anthyllis vulneraria Under my feet in the salt marsh were several stands of English Scurvygrass. The flowers aren't very big, but still much bigger than the roadside Danish Scurvygrass. Cochlearia anglica  Seed pod. Viper's Bugloss with its attractive blue and purple flowers on the chalk bank.

Ranscombe Farm is always worth a visit to lift the soul and I have been there many times. It is full of wildflowers of all descriptions and well recorded. However, as this day proved, you might find something new and never recorded there before. However, I'll start with the more usual species to be found. Barbarea vulgaris The shape and form of the upper stem leaves differentiate the Wintercresses, so always have a look at them. White Hellebroine are a Kent RPR species, but there are plenty of them at Ranscombe (in a few places). Look in heavy shade on the chalk but under Beech trees to find them.  Cephalanthera damasonium Just North of Ranscombe in Cobham Great Wood was a small patch of Lily of the Valley. I'd looked for this last year and failed to find it, yet it's right by the main path running East/West through the wood. It's another rare plant in Kent.   Convallaria majalis Fly Orch

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.