A Botanical Journey mostly from Kent & SE England

I didn't get to see all of Kent's orchids this year, but I have already featured some on the last two blogs, so here's some more from the first week of June. I might sneak in some other wildflowers as well when no-one is looking! Man Orchids Orchis anthropophora There's a venue not too far away with thousands of these on it, called Darland Banks, a steep hilly reserve in Medway. However, I rarely go there now as a road verge near me usually has over 300 close to the car with no hills to climb! These were taken on the busy A225 on a Kent Wildlife Trust roadside Nature Reserve near Eynsford. This is an example of what can happen to our road verges if they are managed properly and mowed at the end of the season and not during it. All the cuttings are taken away too which prevents the soil becoming enriched which Hogweeds, Cow Parsley and Nettles all do so well on.

Most years of late I have made the pilgrimage to the best two known sites for Late spider Orchids, so I thought it would be nice to see them at a different site for a change. For reasons of security (for the plants) I can't name the site, but anyone could find these if they put in the leg work to go and look for them in likely locations. At this site between Ashford and Folkestone there was a steep slope where I thought they would be and I exhausted myself scaling it and then traversing the slope to find them. When I did find them they were near the base of the slope after all! I suppose the moral is to start a search at the bottom then work up rather than head for the best looking areaat the start. Here's a selection of the plants I found in flower from this site starting off with the stunning Late Spider Orchids. Most were less than 8" tall. This species is only found in East Kent in the UK though is apparently quite common in northern France. Orchid