14th April 2009 (Tuesday)
With the Bank Holiday out of the way, I reckoned I'd be safe to venture down to the coast again without being trampled by crowds; it was still pretty busy, being the kids' half-term holiday, but through starting early I managed a decent haul of finds from Weston-super-Mare and nearby Sand Bay, one of the best-known sites in Somerset (especially for established aliens in & around the National Trust nature reserve of Sand Point!.
However, it's a heck of a walk; about six miles from Weston to the base of Sand Point, with another mile or so if you fancy heading out to the end of the point
But, even with my rather dodgy knees, it doesn't seem anything like as far when you've plenty to look at; I started off well with a self-seeded
Hedge Veronica (
Hebe x franciscana) on a wall at Weston seafront, and soon got better as I added another three species around the town's old Birnbeck Pier
(
Hedge Veronica, Hebe x franciscana)
Shrub Ragwort (
Brachyglottis "Sunshine"), one of those annoying hybrids without a proper name, is a common garden shrub I've long kept an eye out for in a wild situation;
Shrubby Orache (
Atriplex halimus), however, was a total surprise; I hadn't realised it grew anywhere in the UK away from the Scilly Isles
Even more unusual, and certainly far prettier, nearby were several patches of the yellow-flowered
Alpine Wallflower (
Erysimum helveticum); it really looks nothing like the common wallflower,
E. chieri, annoyingly I can't seem to manage to upload a photo though
(
Shrubby Orache, Atriplex halimus)
(Trailing Bellflower, Campanula poscharskyana; a common plant of the walls of Weston-super-Mare)
Heading on to the dunes of Sand Bay, natives such as
Spotted Medick (
Medicago arabica)
Sticky Stork's-bill ([i]Erodium lebelii[/i) &
Common Stork's-bill (
E. cicutarium) were all in flower, and alien bulbs added a splash of colour (amongst them
Garden Tulips (
Tulipa gesneriana) & the
Spring Starflower (
Ipheion uniflorum) patch I found here a couple of weeks ago.
Oriental Poppies (
Papaver pseudoorientale) were well-established along the roadside but still only in bud, and
Pink-sorrel (
Oxalis articulata) had just a couple of blooms; it ought to make for a real show in a month or so's time!
The National Trust car park at Sand Point is a well-known site for several alien introductions, most famously the
Mediterranean Spurge (
Euphorbia characias) clumps that have been known on the rocks here for more than fifty years; at the moment they're at their best! Around the toilet block some unexpected
Spring Sowbread (
Cyclamen repandum) was easy to miss amongst the rough grass & nettles, and a clump of
Perennial Candytuft (
Iberis sempervirens) had just one lone flower - as did the expanse of
Pencilled Cranesbill (
Geranium versicolor) nearby, although that was at least a couple of months early by my reckoning
Spanish Gorse (
Genista hispanica) was also just about hanging on; one bush on the rocks was almost set to flower.
(
Spring Sowbread, Cyclamen repandum 
(Perennial Candytuft, Iberis sempervirens)
Up on the Point itself,
Small-flowered Buttercup (
Ranunculus parviflora) was only in leaf, but I was bitterly disappointed not to be able to track down the
Snake's-head Iris (
Hermodactylis tuberosa) that's meant to be established around here; it's possible, I suppose, that I was just a bit too late
(
Small-flowered Buttercup, Ranunculus parviflora)
Nevertheless, it'd been a decent day's work and, late in the afternoon, I found time to head to the northern fringe of Bristol to photograph a plant I'd noticed a few days earlier from the car, but hadn't been able to stop for;
Few-flowered Garlic (
Allium paradoxum), on the verge of the A38 at Almondsbury - it's actually a far more attractive plant than you'd think from illustrations in the books
(
Few-flowered Garlic, Allium paradoxum)