Henbane

[Steven Munday]

Hi Ian,

I was out this morning undertaking a bird survey for the BTO when I came across a number of flowering Henbane plants (well into double figures), a first for me. I took a photo, shown below.



I was searching the web for the occurrence of Henbane in Sussex when I came across this thread. These plants are located in Peacehaven, East Sussex just north of the Piddinghoe Sports Ground (north end of Piddinghoe Avenue) at TQ420014. They are situated to the south-east corner of a small disused reservoir, slightly up hill along the east side of a fence surrounding what I can only describe as a crater. Access is via a footpath to the west of the sports ground’s car park. The area is becoming overgrown so will require wading through vegetation.

I recently came across a large, flowering Deadly Nightshade on the 20th June to the east of Telscombe Village on a site locally known as the E-piece (about 2km north-west from the Henbane site) which forms a part of the Telscombe Tye. It’s located along a path through a wooded area towards the northern end at approximately TQ410031.



Hope this is useful.

Steve.