Braunton Burrows

What an amazing habitat. I was there for the BSBI meeting on Saturday. A bit of a distance from here which is why I hadn't been before but I will be going again.

The Warden, John Breeds, emphasised the problems they face preventing invasion by scrub but actually the message of one's eyes was "keep up the good work".

Twenty new native species for the website and my first BSBI meeting. A very impressive organisation I feel I hardly merit association with yet.

Getting the picture

Now the site is up to date it is time to reflect on what is now there.

The Kerry Lily had always intrigued me - only lives in one part of Kerry and reportedly a really worthwhile member of a very beautiful family (the Liliaceae).

I realised we would be in the Ireland at about the right time this year and, what is more, on the way to the Burren, making the location a minor detour.

So we found our way to the end of Lamb's Head (tricky when the road seems to take you other ways - the routes to houses along the way being more used) and I climbed up onto the headland.

Not much sign of the Lily at first. Then I spotted a flowering spike - no flowers open. Soon found that the plants were everywhere around me (about 30m up) but not much sign of the actual flower yet. Too early ?

Eventually after several passes along the linear rock formations I saw a flower and spent the next few minutes photographing it.

No more flowers were apparent on the head so we set off for Derrynane nearby where more were found. But even if the solitary flower on Lamb's Head had been the sum total it would have been worth it.

Seven days later we heard that the Ring of Kerry roadworks nearby had been stopped because the flower had been found near to the road.

Getting there

Nearly done getting the Burren pictures post-processed and on the site.

We had only one really sunny day (the last) and a great bit of luck the day before to have the sun come out briefly just when some flowering Spring Gentian had been found. I saw one unfurl its petals through my viewfinder - awesome.

So the pictures so far posted are the soggy ones (eg Healianthemum closed in the rain). The best very definitly to come.

Log Jam

Going away for nearly three weeks - to hunt flowers at least partly - inevitably leads to a log jam. The site will be updated soon with Kerry Lily and much more !

Star-of-Bethlehem

It's always nice to stumble on something when least expecting it. Reports of this on a roadside have had be driving slowly along said stretch at intervals all this spring but not a sign. In fact all the indications that someone has replaced them with 'lovely' daffodil mutants...

But a walk in Berrow dunes (quite a short one and far too much golf being played to really explore...) yielded this among six other true native not yet captured for FloralImages.

And not forgetting Cheddar Wood

I had to get a permit for this. Not great numbers of rare plants but one absolute gem that is a speciality of Mendip woodland (Purple Gromwell) and just a great place to spend a day looking and enjoying the fantastic atmosphere and swaths of Wild Garlic, Euphorbia and much more.

It's one of our best preserved "ancient woodlands" - not untouched by man at all - but not interfered with since the modern mechanised era dawned. In fact it was regularly coppiced up until 1017 it is thought.

Permit required - it's a Somerset Wildlife Trust reserve.

The busy time is here, Honewort

Had to find this - I've read so much about it and it's local to here and South Devon (only) in the UK.

Amazing little plant - quite the most interesting Umbellifer I have found so far !

Turns out it must almost certainly have grown where my house is - before the Victorian tennis court that pre-dated development.

Brean

It's just nice to be out somewhere like this at this time of year. Nothing spectacular found by me but a very varied flora already - but mostly vegetative as yet, of course.

Don't forget your doorstep

It's a truism isn't it that we all tend to ignore what is local. I only got round to the sights of London years ago (living there then) when my cousin came to stay for instance.

Same with nature reserves. Uphill has some superb reserves as I confirmed last week. I had been before but not looking seriously and not at such a good time. Timing ? Mainly that I wanted a walk close to home for a variety of insignificant reasons.

Then a quick stroll from the house to get Horse Chestnut flowers turned up Black Poplar hybrid and a nice ornamental oak also in flower...

Mostly Old Favourites

Nothing spectacular photographed this week - but several instances of something I missed the best period for last year and have now improved on - eg Lords and Ladies. These I think are only properly open for a very short time each. Need to be caught at the right time.

Driving round the country

Just the time for the Leucojum aestivum on the River Loddon and also for Pasqueflowers in Gloucestershire. So down the M4 to Reading, long walks on the wrong banks (initially) of the Lodden and then finally some good photographing of the local wild population of these native British flowers.

The "wrong banks" were spoilt by huge works I think for the benefit of fishermen - grrr....

A quick sarnie in the car and off to a site north of Cirencester for Pasqueflowers. Well worth it but this is not my style. I much prefer to drive to somewhere I know better and which is closer to home and spend most of the day in botanical searches - or even just enjoying being out and up on the hills etc.

Another rant - aren't the garden forms of Narcissus in all their gaudiness destroying our springtime road verges ? No problem when they are a massed, subdued variety of course - try the old bit of the "M4" (whatever it now is called) between the old Severn Bridge and Magor.

Mousetails

The season is definitely under way now, and with a much more informed strategy, new species gathering thick and fast.

Mousetail is now pretty rare on a UK wide basis but still has a "stronghold" in West Sedge Moor in Somerset. I found it after walking along one of the main droves a mile or so, but even prepared in a way for what to look for it took a while to spot - very easily confused with grass at a distance but far from similar close up.

Smaller than I imagined and a plant with a delicate beauty. It seems to depend here on "big tractors" to make the mud ridges that form its habitat. I don't like this as a strategy for survival - who knows what the next agricultural developments will be in an area like this and will they suit ?

West Sedge Moor is a peaceful haven to enjoy for it's own tranquil beauty - even at this time of year. Was that a pair of skylarks I heard and enjoyed watching tumbling this early ?

Dawlish Warren

This is the time of year for the Sand Crocus - which grows only in Dawlish Warren in the UK (a few other sites have existed but currently thought extinct at them). It is common in Tunisia though so at its northern extreme in sunny Dawlish.

It's a place well worth a visit in any case and a sunny day (the flowers open only in sun) at the end of March begining of April is the time for Sand Crocus or Romulea columnae. While walking around we found several other early flowers and lots of signs for more to cdome.

I visited with David Fenwick - see his site for more great flower pictures.

Ouch !

Finally sorted out the database so that the "free text" bits are spell-check-able. AND arranged for spellcheck of Latin against the BSBI database.

A lot of mistakes have been revealed and corrected. Apologies to any site-visitors who were annoyed at the level of typos etc. We strive to improve.

Cultivars

... and variants of species / sub-species. I tend to the view that what is important is the species and the selected forms of the gardener no more than specially chosen examples. (This is oversimplifying of course - many garden daffodils / roses etc are very distant from their wild ancestors genetically.)
The site is now modified to deal with these consistently I hope. Main indexes list species / sub-species but there is now a Variant / Cultivar index as well.

Surprises in the garden

My garden may be rather untidy but it does support a wide range of interesting plants that "just happen".

Latest discovery is Scilla bifolia, hidden among daffodils and snowdrops that pre-date my time here.

Might have been introduced with the bulbs I suppose.

Other gems include Ivy Broomrape and the various species that have colonised the walls.

Yew

Anyone might notice a male Yew flowering - quite a show en masse even - but you only get to see the female flowers if you look for them. Which trees to look on ? The clue is in the old decaying berries from last year.

Leucojum flowering times

The plot thickens. I think the two sub-species of L. aestivum differ quite significantly in this parameter. Books like Stace don't commit on flowering time...

Spring just round the corner

But only apparent as Bluebell shoots and Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage in Long Wood. The recent cold has kept pretty much everything on hold in the garden as well. We have a cold weekend forecast but hopefully after that...

Oh - and Scarlet Cups (fungus) were brilliant in Long Wood.

It's been cold

So no obvious botanical walks to do. We climbed Brent Knoll on a superb day visibility wise; enjoyed the view at the top (if not the icy wind) and, lo and behold, coming back down round the south side found a sheltered pocket where the road verge had Sweet Violet and Celandine in profusion. The Celandines were probably a large-flowered sub-species but it was too early to check the distinguishing features for certain.