A Botanical Journey mostly from Kent & SE England

The recent spread of the Lizard Orchid has been well documented with a new site in Chelsfield in Metropolitan Kent and another new site in Essex being recently recorded. It's also moving north with reports around other parts of southern England coming in. However, when you go out for a walk close to your home and it's a walk you've made numerous times before, you don't expect to find a 3 foot tall flowering Lizard Orchid spike, but this day I did. How can such a large and rare plant not be seen? I guess the answer in this case is that this was growing on a strip of land owned by the railways. It was fenced off against rabbits but not people (no barbed wire), though locals tended not to bother going there due to this fence. There was a second barbed wire fence keeping you off the railway before anyone asks! Of course, being a botanist I had a peek and was looking to put a Bee Orchid record into this monad. I had walked this area many times from 2013 to the presen

The following plants are from the Chiddingstone and Cowden area of West Kent from early June and on this visit there were some insects as well that allowed me to take their portraits. These areas have both acid and alkaline areas and in the former Foxgloves were relatively commonplace. Digitalis purpurea The Geranium family were well represented with many species found. This one is Hedgerow Cranesbill, which has the largest flowers of our native Geraniums. Geranium pyrenaicum Perhaps my second most favourite wild Geranium is Shining Cranesbill with its bright pink flowers and foliage that reddens as it ages (my favourite is Little Robin). Geranium lucidum These bright orange beetles called Cardinal Beetles, always seem to look as though they are balancing somewhere highly precarious and that they are about to fall off. This one was no exception... Willowherbs can be diffi

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.