23 Sunday Jan 2022
Posted in flowers, wildflowers, winter
Tags
British wildflowers, wildflowers in winter, winter wildflowers, winter yellow, winter-blooming wildflowers, yellow wildflowers
Limiting my palette to yellow, for the challenge and the sunshine cheeriness of the colour, I went searching for wildflowers in bloom in my local area this week. These are the dozen I managed to find …
02 Sunday Jan 2022
Posted in wildflowers, winter
It’s on again, the New Year Plant Hunt, running from 1 to 4 January inclusive, so you still have time to join in and help the BSBI (Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland) ‘build up a clearer picture of how our wildflowers are responding to changes in autumn and winter weather patterns’. Click HERE for more information on how to join in and to see past years’ results.
My little video shows the 31 species in bloom I managed to find during an extended meander around my town in coastal south Wales. Some flowers are looking a bit raggedy after a lot of recent rain but the lack of really cold temperatures so far this winter means there are still a lot of wildflowers a’flowering.
05 Sunday Dec 2021
Posted in flowers, plants, wildflowers, winter
It may be the first week of winter but there are still plenty of wildflowers in bloom. I hope you enjoy seeing these as much as I enjoyed finding them.
28 Sunday Feb 2021
Posted in flowers, plants, wildflowers, winter
The results are in! After a concerted effort to check as many different local habitats as possible, walking 31.5 miles over 5 days, I managed to find 29 different wildflowers in bloom this week. Two (Ragwort and Smooth sow-thistle) were too distant for good photos; the other 27 feature in this week’s little video. I hope you’re also seeing plenty of flowers in your areas now too.
The 27 are: Alexanders, Barren strawberry, Colt’s-foot, Cow parsley, Cowslip, Creeping buttercup, Daisy, Dandelion, Dog’s mercury, Field speedwell, Forget-me-not, Gorse, Groundsel, Ivy-leaved toadflax, Lesser celandine, Opposite-leaved golden-saxifrage, Petty spurge (with little yellow spots of the rust Melampsora euphorbiae), Primrose, Red dead-nettle, Red valerian, Shepherd’s-purse, Snowdrop, Spurge laurel (a shrub really but I’m including it), Sweet violet, Three-cornered leek, Wavy bitter-cress, and Winter heliotrope.
31 Sunday Jan 2021
Posted in wildflowers, winter
Tags
British wildflowers, Crocuses, Daisy, Primroses, Red valerian, Snowdrops, St Augustine's Church, Winter heliotrope, winter wildflowers
I often take a wander through the churchyard of St Augustine’s during my local exercise walks. As this space is purposefully managed to attract wildlife and nurture the environment, it’s always a pleasure to visit, to sit on a bench and listen to the birdsong, to check for what’s growing and blooming. On Thursday’s visit, I looked for wildflowers and was delighted to find my first Snowdrops and Crocuses of the year, as well as a lot of Winter heliotrope, several Primroses, a few Daisies in the grass, and the white-flowered variety of Red valerian.
17 Sunday Jan 2021
Posted in flowers, wildflowers, winter
Tags
British wildflowers, midwinter wildflowers, wildflowers in bloom, winter colour, winter wildflowers
Nature’s resilience amazes me! It’s the middle of winter, we’ve had some very hard frosts and really chilly days as well as torrential rain, yet I’ve still been able to find 25 species of wildflower in bloom this week.
These heroes are Alexanders, Bramble, a garden-escapee Campanula species, Creeping buttercup, Daisy, Dandelion, Field speedwell, Gorse, Groundsel, Herb Robert, Hogweed, Ivy-leaved toadflax, Lesser celandine, Mayweed species, Meadow buttercup, Nipplewort, Oxeye daisy, Primrose, Ragwort, Red valerian, Shepherd’s purse, Smooth sow-thistle, Sweet violet, Wild radish, and Winter heliotrope.
03 Sunday Jan 2021
Posted in flowers, plants, wildflowers, winter
The New Year Plant Hunt is happening again this year, from 1 to 4 January, but participants must, of course, stick to the Covid-19 restrictions in their areas. (In case you’re new to the idea of the Plant Hunt, all the details are on the BSBI website here.) I am taking part, of course, and, as a practice run, I used my meander around local streets and countryside footpaths on New Year’s Eve to see what I could find. It was very chilly, as you’ll see from the ice crystals still on a couple of the flowers, but I was very pleased to find 14 plants still in bloom: Alexanders, Bramble, Common vetch, Daisy, Dandelion, Gorse, Groundsel, Ivy, Knapweed, Primrose, Red clover, Red valerian, Shepherd’s purse, and Winter heliotrope.
20 Sunday Dec 2020
Posted in wildflowers, winter
Tags
British wildflowers, Ficaria verna, Lesser Celandine, Lesser celandine flowering in December, winter wildflowers
So, no, it’s not spring. It’s only really the beginning of winter and, yet, in three different locations this week I’ve found Lesser celandine (Ficaria verna) in flower. I think these glistening wildflowers do bloom quite early in the new year – they’re just even earlier than usual.
13 Sunday Dec 2020
Posted in wildflowers, winter
Tags
British wildflowers, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, December wildflowers, winter wildflowers
This was hard work! The paddocks at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park get shaved of all vegetation at least once each year, usually in autumn, and that process happened late this year, just two weeks ago. So, it took me three visits, covering almost every inch of the site, checking the field boundaries in particular, searching for any wildflowers the tractor’s blades might have missed.
I’m actually amazed I managed to find this many species still flowering: Bramble, Carline thistle, Creeping buttercup, Creeping thistle, Daisy, Herb Robert, Hogweed, Oxeye daisy, Sweet violet, Wild radish, Winter heliotrope, and Yellow-wort.
06 Sunday Dec 2020
Posted in wildflowers
During Tuesday’s walk across the Barrage in Cardiff Bay, I searched for as many wildflowers in bloom as I could find. I spotted just ten species, but it’s quite a small area and the grounds are frequently cut and strimmed by the Council’s grounds staff, so I thought that was a good number for the time of year. And the list included a few species I don’t see elsewhere, like Viper’s-bugloss (very stunted from the too-frequent cutting), Black nightshade, and Common stork’s-bill.
The wildflowers in the video are Daisy (Bellis perennis), Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale agg.), Common stork’s-bill (Erodium cicutarium), Viper’s-bugloss (Echium vulgare), Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris), Nipplewort (Lapsana communis), Black nightshade (Solanum nigrum), Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum), Smooth sow-thistle (Sonchus oleraceus), and Hoary mustard (Hirschfeldia incana).
earthstar 
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