Of Bee Orchids &c.

Before going Shopping, we decided to pop down to the Grounds of the Church of St John the Baptist, Erith, to see if we could find any flowering Ivy Broomrape, go up to the River and then on to the nearby Lake beside Church Manorway to see how the five Mallard Ducklings were faring (Yippee: they were OK).

In the Grounds of the Church of St John the Baptist we were Super-Encouraged to see that the Grass &c. hadn't seemingly been Mown/Strimmed for a while so we were hopeful of seeing Something. Although anything really.

Flowering Species seen included:

Bee Orchid (Wow: very much a Something and very Unexpected ~ there were at least thirteen Plants ~ hopefully they will be allowed to flower and drop seeds ~ we have asked the Church if they might be spared so can hope) viz.

Bird's-Foot-Trefoil
Biting Stonecrop viz.

(assumed) Common Dog Violet
Creeping Cinquefoil
Germander Speedwell
Ivy Broomrape (since these aren't noticeably growing on Ivy we wondered whether they are Ivy Broomrape but have to assume they are) viz.

Orange Hawkweed (aka for reasons unknown, Fox & Cubs) viz.

Red Clover
and White Clover

Up beside the River a Painted Lady Butterfly fluttered around for a while and beside the River some Gulls were hanging around on the Mud, doing nothing in particular viz.

Below the Sea Wall, Sea Milkwort was just about flowering viz.

Sea Plantain and a single Sea Aster were also flowering.

Moving on to the nearby Lake beside Church Manorway we were relieved to see the five Mallard Ducklings were safe and sound. They seem to be very independent characters and are forever diving below the surface of the water. Whilst we were there, a male Mallard flew in and joined them viz.

Presumably Papa since no-one seemed unduly concerned?

The Reed Warblers were singing most merrily and a couple of Canada Geese were paying a visit viz.

There seem to be at least three Cootlets: they were being attended to most diligently by their Parents viz.

And we think there is also a Moorhen Family. Dare we hope for a Little Grebe family? Why not.

It was also nice to see a somewhat distant Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly viz.

Flower-Wise, the Purple Loosestrife growing beside the Lake was coming into flower viz.

Also flowering beside the Lake and the Footpath leading up to Bronze Age Way were:

Black Horehound
Bramble (and very pleasing to see a visiting Small White Butterfly) viz.

Celery-Leaved Buttercup
Common Knapweed
Common Mallow viz.

Common Spike-Rush
Creeping Thistle
Goat's-Rue viz.

Red Campion viz.

Scarlet Pimpernel (not seen there before) viz.

Selfheal viz.

Spear Thistle viz.

(assumed) Welted Thistle
Wild Mignonette
and Yarrow viz.

We were also pleased to see the Annual Beard-Grass (in the Kent Rare Plant Register) again viz.

We are planning to collect Seed.

The visit once again showing that there is no need to travel too far to enjoy oneself.

It doesn't take much to Please Us

The previous day we had visited Darland Banks in deepest Kent in the hopes of seeing an Adonis Blue Butterfly, a Small Blue Butterfly and possibly an Orchid or two. And we probably saw an Adonis Blue Butterfly, we definitely saw a couple of Small Blue Butterflies and quite a few Man Orchids.

But we didn't really enjoy ourselves, so on Monday (Bank Holiday) we returned to well-trodden Territory viz. we started at the small Lake beside Church Manorway and immediately spotted the Mallard family viz.

There are five children and they are essentially left to their own devices: Mama being seemingly indifferent to them. Very unlike the Coots who also have a family and take their Parental Duties very seriously; so much so that they were at Battle Stations with a wandering Moorhen.

We then walked up the new Footpath (beside the Lake) connecting Church Manorway with Bronze Age Way, returning to our starting Point via Crabtree Manorway North and Mulberry Way.

Flowering Plants seen included:

Annual Beard Grass (included in the Kent are Plant Register)
Bird's-Foot-Trefoil viz.

Black Horehound viz.

Bladder Campion viz.

Celery-Leaved Buttercup
Common Knapweed viz.

Common Mallow
Common Stork's-Bill
Common Spike-Rush (we know very little about Rushes &c. but have seen this growing on the former Thamesmead Golf Course)
Creeping Thistle
Goat's-Rue
Greater Celandine (growing beside the nearby Callender's Cables and Construction Co. Ltd.', War Memorial)
Green Alkanet
Hairy Tare
Hedge Woundwort viz.

(assumed) Lucerne aka Alfalfa viz.

Melilot viz.

Narrow-Leaved Ragwort
Oxeye Daisy
Red Campion
Red Clover
Spear Thistle
(assumed) Welted Thistle viz.

White Campion
White Clover
Wild Mignonette viz.

Yarrow viz.

Yellow Iris viz.

and Yellow Rattle

We also noticed (although not yet flowering):

Amphibious Bistort
and Water Plantain

Butterflies seen included:

Common Blue Butterflies viz.

Holly Blue Butterflies viz.

a Peacock Butterfly viz.

and a Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly viz.

We were also pleased to see a Burnet Companion Moth and other Little Critters (Bees &c.) viz.

Before going Home we went Shopping in Erith. Parking the Car beside the Erith Deep Water Wharf we looked over the nearby pleasingly Overgrown Flower Beds. Black Horehound, Black Medick, Common Mallow, (we think) Perforate St John's-Wort viz.

and Wild Mignonette were flowering and Wow, a couple of Common Blue Butterflies were in Permanent/Temporary Residence!

Far more enjoyable than the previous days visit to Darland Banks.

We visit the Upper College Farm area in Search of Butterflies

And Wow: we found some. And more than we expected or hoped for. Especially since the Weather was Cloudy with Intermittent Sunshine and a Brisk Wind. During the first part of our Walk we wondered if we would actually see any Butterflies at all. And in numerical terms, we didn't see many: around twenty-five if we include Sightings of Unidentified Butterflies.

But at least Ten Butterfly Species!

On arrival we noticed a couple of Swallows whooshing and Swooshing. We were however disappointed to see that the main area had recently been mown but that sort of thing seems par for the course here now. There were Skylarks but we didn't see or hear any during this visit.

Butterfly Species seen:

Brown Argus
Common Blue viz.

Green Hairstreak (he/she put us in mind of a Prancing Horse or a Fairy) viz.

Green-Veined White
Holly Blue viz.

Painted Lady (our first of the Year and hopefully not the last) viz.

Peacock viz.

Small Copper viz.

Small Heath (our first of the Year) viz.

and Speckled Wood viz.

Flowering Plants included:

Bird's-Foot-Trefoil
Common Mallow
Common Vetch
Creeping Cinquefoil
Crosswort (included in the Kent Rare Plant Register)
Germander Speedwell
Hairy Tare
Hoary Cress
Goat's-Beard
Grass Vetchling
Ground Ivy
Horseradish
(assumed) Lucerne aka Alfalfa
Meadow Vetchling
Oxeye Daisy
Red Clover
White Campion
White Clover
Yellow Iris

Of Hemlock Water-Droplet, Orange Hawkweed and Sundry Others in the City of London

We decided it was High-Time to visit some of our Old Haunts in the City of London, to see whether we could find any Wild Flowers &c.

Arriving via the Docklands Light Railway at Tower Gateway Station we slowly made our way towards the Tower of London and the River Thames coming across Old Acquaintances such as Dove's-Foot Crane's-Bill, Dwarf Mallow, Lesser Swine-Cress, Lesser Trefoil, Oxford Ragwort, Ribwort Plantain, Round-Leaved Crane's-Bill,  Shepherd's-Purse, Spotted Medick and Yarrow in a Small Grassed Area (where the Statue of a Roman, believed to be the Emperor Trajan, stands (Grid Reference TQ3280), before walking beside the Thames between Tower Bridge and London Bridge seeing some Mexican Fleabane growing on the Riverside' Wall, before we found a small Population of Hemlock Water-Droplet in flower viz.

Such Super-Pretty flowers.

A Blue Tit posed briefly for the Camera but we fumbled and the opportunity was lost.

And we are hoping during a future visit to determine which style of Stonecrop this is, growing on the Sea Wall beside the River viz.

We then made our way to the St Mary Aldermanbury Garden (Grid Reference TQ3281) * via Swan Lane, Laurence Pountney Hill **, Cannon Street, Walbrook, Cheapside, Old Jewry, Gresham Street and Aldermanbury, where we had vague hopes of finding something interesting.

And Yippee, we were not disappointed. Nothing perhaps to excite the 'Proper Botanist', but tons enough for us. We found a number of Plants, including:

Black Spleenwort viz.

Creeping Yellow Sorrel viz.

Hart's-Tongue Fern viz.

Maidenhair Spleenwort (lots of it) viz.

Pellitory-of-the-Wall (lots of it including this Plant which we think might be coming into flower) viz.

But most pleasing of all was some Orange Hawkweed (aka Fox and Cubs) with its Vibrant, Orange Flowers, growing in cracks in the remnants of the old Church' Walls viz.

Which all goes to show you don't need to be a 'Proper Botanist' to find something interesting.

And the Excitement wasn't limited to Plants. There were a few Feral Pigeons present (although when aren't there?), a seeming Bruiser of a Carrion Crow dropped by briefly and we saw a Robin and a couple of lively Dunnocks, one of whom kindly posed for the Camera on a Bench viz.

------------------------------------------------

* The Church (destroyed by the Great Fire of 1666 and rebuilt) was badly damaged during World War II and by way of serving as both a reminder and a commemoration of Sir Winston Churchill's, 1946 'Iron Curtain' Fulton Speech, the Church was dismantled and rebuilt in the grounds of Fulton's, Westminster College.

** Much of the City has changed beyond all recognition since we first trod its Pavements, many, many years ago. Standing in Cannon Street we tried unsuccessfully to remember exactly where the much-loved Cannon Street Library (long, long gone) had been located although the Buildings in that section of Cannon Street haven't changed from when the Library was there: Yet!

And neither seemingly has Number 6, Pountney House, Laurence Pountney Hill viz.

where we were based for a few years back in the 19..'s.  Although we imagine the Night Storage Heaters that were useful for piling files on are long-gone and that the Building is now, Air-Conditioned!

Such is the Stuff of Memories.

Picking Wild Flowers &c.

Apropos Wild Flowers (which begs the Question, what is a Wild Flower?), we understand that it isn't normally an Offence to collect, 'fruit, foliage, fungi or flowers', if the Plants are growing in the Wild and what we collect is for Personal Use. However lots of Plants are protected by the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act. And it's apparently never OK to dig up a Whole Plant.

Which makes us Wonder: does a Local Authority have any responsibility to ensure the Well-Being of Wild Flowers? If the Local Authority doesn't appear to demonstrate any apparent interest and seems generally intent, wherever possible, on razing everything to the Ground, digging up a Plant (or Plants) and Replanting it (or them) where the Local Authority can't reach it, might be the only way to Guarantee a Plant flowers? Or Survives! Is that so Wrong? 

What has prompted these Musings?

We recently visited the Hillview Cemetery and as we had half expected, the so-called, Wild Flower areas, have been razed to the Ground. And it is not clear what is going on with the Wild Flower areas in Lesnes Abbey Park. Sadly, it looks as if Butterflies and other Little Critters in the Park will be few and far between now.

A few days ago, we visited the Thames Path in the Belvedere area where the last of the Cowslips had still been in flower with other Plants coming up nicely, to see that the Council Strimmers had just visited viz.

All gone although some of the White Ramping Fumitory escaped the Strimmers viz.

It will doubtless grow back back again. But no Cowslip Seeds this year. 

And with the Council boasting that they will provide £90,000 'on more frequent cutting of grass, verges and hedges', we wonder whether anything will be given a chance to flower?

Thankfully a nearby Slope was left untouched allowing for a Kidney Vetch to flower viz.

The nearby Footpath connecting Norman Road North and the Thames Path has recently been Strimmed as has the Footpath connecting the Crossness Nature Reserve to Belvedere Road (Strimming, and very thorough it was too, was underway when we visited and left quicker than we had intended).

All of this also meaning that many flowering Plants that might have provided succour to Little Critters &c. have gone.

But perhaps it all looks too untidy?

Prompting us to repeat our earlier Musings viz. 'Which makes us Wonder: does a Local Authority have any responsibility to ensure the Well-Being of Wild Flowers? If the Local Authority doesn't appear to demonstrate any apparent interest and seems generally intent, wherever possible, on razing everything to the Ground, digging up a Plant (or Plants) and Replanting it (or them) where the Local Authority can't reach it, might be the only way to Guarantee a Plant flowers? Or Survives! Is that so Wrong?'