Anyway, let's try to get this up to date... 
21st April 2009 (Tuesday)
With the fine weather continuing, it was off to the North Somerset coast again - this time to Brean & Berrow Dunes, a popular holiday spot just along from Weston-super-Mare (there's a bloody great Pontins leisure park there, which they claim is the biggest in the country...
) The bars in it usually offer a needed, refreshing pint, because it's a long walk (seven miles or so between Brean Down & Berrow village...) especially in the heat of midsummer
Today, though, the temperature was just about right and, although I unfortunately missed my main target (the
Snake's-head Irises (
Hermodactylis tuberosa) allegedly around here), there was enough about for me not to be
too disappointed
I was quite surprised to find a
Star-of-Bethlehem (
Ornithogalum angustifolium) coming into flower at the side of a sandy track to the beach; it's been a while since I've seen one and I remembered a far "frailer" looking plant, but apparently there's a lot of variation and the taxonomic position is far from certain. Whatever, it's beyond my level of knowledge to delve any deeper, so
O. angustifolium it'll be
(
Star-of-Bethlehem, Ornithogalum angustifolium)
The dunes around here tend to pick up all sorts of odd alien species, either bird-sown or dumped from the caravan sites, and so it proved around a small pond on the dunes where (as well as the thick growth of
Canadian Waterweed (
Elodea canadensis) grew single specimens of
Fly Honeysuckle (
Lonicera xylosteum) &
Thunberg's Barberry ([i]Berberis thunbergii[/b]) - in the summer there are also a couple of introduced willows here, and last July I found a lovely specimen of Thorn-apple (
Datura stramonium)
(
Fly Honeysuckle, Lonicera xylosteum)
As for smaller stuff, the sandy soil had plenty of
Early Forget-me-not (
Myosotis ramosissima) &
Common Stork's-bill (
Erodium cicutarium) in flower, whilst the roadside was regularly brightened by the pink of
Pink-sorrel (
Oxalis articulata) & yellow of
Wallflower (
Erysimum chieri); the latter is one of the two commonest crucifers here, along with
Eastern Rocket (
Sisymbrium orientale). And, at Berrow Church, where the non-existent Snake's-head Irises were meant to be, was a lovely clump of
Three-cornered Leek (
Allium triquetrum); at the start of April I'd been delighted to find just one plant of this right on my doorstep, I'd never noticed just how common it is in this area
(
Three-cornered Leek, Allium triquetrum)
That wasn't quite it, because back in Weston-super-Mare I somehow managed to make an almighty F-up and get on the wrong train; instead of heading northwards to Bristol, mine started off south towards (eventually) the delights of Taunton & Exeter
(I blame the tablets...
)
In fact, though, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because getting off at the next station at Highbridge, I chanced across an overgrown area near the car park with several interesting species.
Snake's-head Fritillaries (
Fritillaria meleagris) were managing to hold their own against the carpet of Ramsons,
Wintercreeper (
Euonymus fortunei) covered a fair-sized area (the first time I'd ever seen the natural, green-leaved form...) and, best of all, a stunning tree of
Purple Crab Apple (
Malus x purpurea) was in full bloom next to one of the paths
With trees you can never be sure, but I'd say it was far more likely to have been bird-sown than planted.
(
Snake's-head Fritillary, Fritillaria meleagris)
(
Purple Crab Apple, Malus x purpurea)
(
Wintercreeper, Euonymus fortunei)