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Category Archives: flowers

New year, new plant hunt

08 Sunday Jan 2023

Posted by sconzani in flowers, wildflowers

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British wildflowers, New Year Plant Hunt, wildflowers in bloom, winter colour, winter wildflowers

I flagged the forthcoming New Year Plant Hunt in a post last week, hoping to encourage those of you in the UK to include wildflowers in bloom in your new year rambles. From all reports, the hunt went well but, as was my experience, the numbers of wildflowers in bloom were quite low this year, due either to the December cold snap or, locally, both the cold and the lingering rain. I managed to find 15 flowering species during this week’s walks: Common field-speedwell, Daisy, Dandelion, Field scabious, Gorse, Groundsel, Mayweed, Narrow-leaved ragwort, Red dead-nettle, Red valerian, Shepherd’s-purse, Sea radish, Winter heliotrope, Sun spurge, and Yarrow.

230108 wildflowers

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New Year Plant Hunt, 2023

29 Thursday Dec 2022

Posted by sconzani in flowers, wildflowers

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#NewYearPlantHunt, British wildflowers, New Year Plant Hunt, wildflowers in bloom, winter wildflowers

The BSBI’s 12th New Year Plant Hunt runs from 31 December 2022 to 3 January 2023 so, if you’re at a loose end on one of those days or you’re looking for a reason to get out for a walk, look no further than this fun and important hunt for wildflowers in bloom. The Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland uses the data from this nationwide plant hunt to research the effects of climate change on our local flora and, as a citizen scientist, your contribution plays an important part in their research. You can read more about the hunt and events happening throughout Britain and Ireland, find out how to record your finds, and where to get help with identification on the BSBI website. Do please join in if you can.

Wildflowers in bloom, 25 December 2022
Wildflowers in bloom, 25 December 2022

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Flowers and berries

18 Sunday Dec 2022

Posted by sconzani in flowers, trees

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Holly, Holly berries, Holly flowers

There seems to me no better example of our changing climate and the confusion it’s causing in the natural world than this: finding one Holly tree in flower and others carrying berries all at the same time. In fact, the photo of the flowers, which are supposed to bloom during the spring and early summer, was taken at the beginning of this month, two weeks after that of the berries.

221218 holly

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Winter 50

04 Sunday Dec 2022

Posted by sconzani in flowers, wildflowers, winter

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British wildflowers, wildflowers in bloom, winter colour, winter wildflowers

First, a confession. I actually made the first two of these grids of wildflowers for last Sunday’s Wildflower Hour on social media. But, when I checked again over the last couple of days, all of last week’s flowers bar one were still in bloom, so I’ve simply modified them as necessary to accommodate this week’s finds.

221204 pinks x12

So, in this first grid of flowers in the pink-purple range, I removed a Field scabious flower that’s now turned to mush and replaced it with the first Sweet violet flower I’ve spotted. The flowers are: Creeping thistle, Sweet violet, Hemp agrimony, Herb Robert, Ivy-leaved toadflax, Knapweed, Meadow crane’s-bill, Purple toadflax, Red clover, Red valerian, Tufted vetch, and Winter heliotrope.

221204 white x16

This second grid, of (mostly) white flowers, has a whole new row at the bottom with this week’s extra finds. These are: Bitter-cress, Bramble, Bladder campion, White campion, Daisy, Large bindweed, Mayweed, Oxeye daisy, Shepherd’s-purse, Traveller’s-joy, Wild carrot, Yarrow, Barren strawberry, Black nightshade, Common fumitory, and Hogweed.

221204 yellows x20

The third grid, of yellow and green flowers, is totally new. These flowers are: Bristly oxtongue, Common toadflax, Creeping buttercup, Dandelion, Evening primrose, Gorse, Groundsel, Hoary mustard, Meadow vetchling, Prickly sow-thistle, Ragwort, Sea radish, Creeping cinquefoil, Meadow buttercup, Nipplewort, Yellow-wort, Sun spurge, Smooth sow-thistle, Yellow corydalis, and Petty spurge.

221204 extras x2

And, today, I’ve discovered two extra flowers, which it’s easiest to just add here at the end on their own. They are Narrow-leaved ragwort, a new plant for me, and Blue fleabane. It’s both wonderful, and a little alarming, to see so many (50!) wildflowers still in bloom at the beginning of winter but, with very cold weather forecast for later this week, I think numbers will soon quickly diminish. I’m enjoying this feast of colour while I can, and I hope you do too.

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Frost and flowers

20 Sunday Nov 2022

Posted by sconzani in autumn, flowers, wildflowers

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autumn colour, autumn wildflowers, British wildflowers, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, frost, frosty leaves

Yesterday saw our first real frost of the season, with the ground crunchy and vegetation covered in a sparkling layer of ice crystals.

221120 frost

Despite these signs of the cooler weather to come, there were still plenty of wildflowers in bloom so, as I meandered up and down the east and west paddocks at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, I photographed those I found: Blue fleabane; Bramble; both Creeping and Meadow buttercups; the ubiquitous Daisy and Dandelion; one or two Devil’s-bit scabious and Flax flowers hanging on in the more sheltered spots; Wild carrot enjoying a second flowering; and Yellow-wort, whose little bursts of bright sunshine yellow dotted much of the west paddock.

221120 cosmeston wildflowers

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Autumn crocus

16 Sunday Oct 2022

Posted by sconzani in autumn, flowers

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autumn colour, Autumn crocus, autumn flowers, Colchium autumnale

I simply couldn’t resist the way the sunlight was illuminating these Autumn crocus flowers (Colchium autumnale). They looked almost translucent, ethereal, celestial, sublime.

221016 autumn crocus

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Along an old railway line

25 Sunday Sep 2022

Posted by sconzani in autumn, flowers, walks, wildflowers

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autumn wildflowers, British wildflowers, wildflowers along former railway line

A railway line used to run along the south Wales coast from my town to the next large town but it fell victim, like so many other railway lines, to the Beeching cuts of the 1960s (the last passenger train ran on 4 May 1968). Part of that old line is now a well-used walking and cycle path, the rest runs through land that is both in private hands and owned by the Welsh government. When Covid first told hold and our county council stupidly closed the local country park (where people could exercise with space in safety), many locals began using the government land or either side of the old rail line. Though there are government plans afoot to turn this land into a cheap, nasty and overcrowded housing estate, in the interim local people continue to use the area for walking, both themselves and their dogs, which means it’s now also possible to access the old rail trail. Today’s little video shows the trail and the wildflowers that were still in bloom along it during a walk I took earlier this week.

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Happy autumn equinox!

23 Friday Sep 2022

Posted by sconzani in autumn, flowers, wildflowers

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autumn equinox, autumn flowers, British wildflowers, Cyclamen hederifolium, Wild cyclamen

Happy equinox! Today is the first day of astronomical autumn in the northern hemisphere, and what better way to celebrate than with some autumnal blooms, in this case some Wild cyclamen (Cyclamen hederifolium) flowers I spotted growing in a nearby green space earlier this week.

220923 wild cyclamen

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Seedheads: Ragwort

11 Sunday Sep 2022

Posted by sconzani in autumn, flowers, wildflowers

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autumn colour, British wildflowers, Ragwort, Ragwort seedheads, seedheads, seeds

Over the summer, one of the local fields I regularly walk around was a sea of yellow, chock full of tall flowering Ragwort plants.

220911 ragwort

Now that it’s autumn, the landscape has changed to a rich brown, dotted with tiny spots of white, the fluffy Ragwort seeds. It would be easy to overlook this brown field but, when you look closely, the seedheads are quite lovely.

220911 ragwort seedheads

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New plant: Salad burnet

01 Thursday Sep 2022

Posted by sconzani in flowers, wildflowers

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British wildflowers, Poterium sanguisorba, Salad burnet, Sanguisorba minor, wildflower

New month, new season, new plant. This is Salad burnet, which seems recently to have had a change of scientific name from Sanguisorba minor to Poterium sanguisorba. As you might guess from the root of the word, the sanguisorba part of those names, old and new, refers to blood. Richard Mabey explains in Flora Britannica: ‘The round, rust-speckled flower-heads, a little like scabs or blood clots, made it a signaturist’s favourite, for staunching wounds….’ I don’t see the resemblance myself – in fact, I think the flower-heads look a little like terrestrial versions of sea-anemones.

From the common name, it is obvious that this plant can be used as a salad green and, though I haven’t tried it myself, I’ve read that it has a slightly bitter taste and that the leaves smell of cucumber when crushed. I will have to revisit the find site to check that out.

220901 salad burnet

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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