A 2009 plant-hunter's diary

[davidbr]

If necessary I'd be prepared to travel as far as it takes - I'm already intending to go to Warley Place, Essex, in March & Llandudno, Anglesey & the Scilly Isles in June - July.

I don't know of anywhere "local" where aconites grow, although I suppose I might just come across some on the off-chance - the Avon Gorge turned up a weird & wonderful range of aliens last season

[leifus]

we have 2 or 3 under a hedge in our garden that mum found one day while digging a flower bed

[davidbr]

So far it's been a pretty quiet January, with no new additions to the photo database (at least, no positively identified ones - if you've read the "holly" thread you'll have seen I've come across one plant that's causing me some serious headaches )

Generally I've just been improving on images I've already got; re-visiting the sites I know of for Winter Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) & Adam's-needle (Yucca filamentosa), plus adding a few new pictures of Primrose (Primula vulgaris), Common Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) & Red Dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum) - one that I'm ashamed to say that, like a lot of common "weeds", I've never really looked at properly before...

I guess the cold weather has delayed the arrival of Spring, because I haven't managed to find any Lesser Celandines in flower yet and a lot of the bulbs are only just poking their leaves above ground down here. Tomorrow, hopefully, I can finally track down the site for Silk-tassel (Garrya elliptica) that's meant to exist in the Avon Gorge, and maybe there might even be a few Green Hellebores out in flower - it'd be good to get a genuine one after "stringing" several Stinking Hellebores as that species

[leifus]

so far ive got......

petty spurge
snowdrop
winter jasmine
groundsel
daisy
gorse
winter heliotrope
primrose
greater periwinkle
ivy-leaved toadflax
common dandelion
winter aconite

[davidbr]

There's not been a lot of activity on here lately, but that's not because I've given up - unfortunately I spent early/mid February as a guest of the NHS, so the only "plant" I could see was the artificial monstrosity at the nurses' station looking even sicker than I was Thanks to the British climate, however, it doesn't seem I missed a huge amount - apart from the snow (the worst for 18 years, I heard?) that Suzie, my lovely "personal nurse" during my stay on ITU, constantly moaned about having to fight her way to work through

Anyway, it did give me the chance to review the oustanding entries stuck in my "Unidentified" folder and, although I'm still not 100% happy, I've put names to two I'd posted help threads about both and there wasn't really total agreement, but the "holly" I found in early January in a wood near my house, I've decided to take the advice from a very knowledgeable PM I received (sorry, I've since deleted them all so can't give proper credit...) and put it down as cultivar "Wilsonii" of Highclere Holly, Ilex x altaclerensis (I don't count garden cultivars seperately).

There was also a stunted labiate, growing in a tray of seed-sown Purple Shamrock on my kitchen window, that really pushed the boundaries of what could be counted as a "wild" plant since, to my knowledge, it'd never experienced the great outdoors! It was clearly an impurity in the compost, though, and its' unorthodox growing conditions made it a real xexexexexexe to identify; after advice on here (some agreeing, some not...) and a lot of searching on Google Image, the only match I can find is Henbit Dead-nettle, Lamium amplexicaule - I've never seen this plant previously in the wild and, I guess, it'd look a bit different with sufficient space to spread its' roots!

The beauty of taking photos, of course, is that you can always go back and re-review your decisions I'm going to pot my Henbit Dead-nettle up seperately, give it a bit more room to grow and see what it comes out like - that's the only way I think I'll ever know for sure if my ID was correct...

Anyway, here's the pictures again from the WaB Gallery of what I've now entered as Henbit Dead-nettle (a different view) and Highclere Holly - opinions, as always, very very welcome

[Mungo]

<- aside->
Sorry to hear yo have been unwell David, hope you are now on the mend. <-aside->

[davidbr]

Thanks, Mungo; I'm getting stronger all the time and, fingers crossed, it won't have too much effect on the early Spring programme I'll be relying on public transport or the kindness of those offering lifts, though, since I'm currently declared unfit to drive Unnecessarily so, I'm sure - but it's better to be safe than sorry...

Anyway... after managing to escape from Frenchay Hospital, news of a Long-eared Owl roosting at Splatt Bridge, Frampton-on-Severn on February 18th was enough to tempt me into making the 25-mile journey north to have a look. (As I'm sure everyone's realised I've a bit of a backlog to catch up with, which I'll try to post as quickly as possible...) The owl was easy enough to see; although, well-camouflaged against a hawthorn bush, views were hardly brilliant! Plant-wise there wasn't a lot in flower around Frampton itself (no doubt a result of the weather) but not a million miles away, in the village of Oldbury-on-Severn, is an old churchyard (St. Arilda's) well known for its display of naturalised spring flowers

Hence, I was able to add Wild Daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus, of the alien ssp. major) & Yellow Crocus (Crocus x stellaris) to the photo catalogue - the latter were in full bloom and made for a magnificent sight, thanks to Tiggrx especially for advising on ID Plenty of Common Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) were also in bloom, as were the very first Lesser Celandines (Ranunculus ficaria on a grassy bank - addition No. 3 for the morning

[davidbr]

A few days later, on February 22nd, walking the five-mile stretch of the River Frome between Pur Down (Horfield; for more detailed locations, Google's map service will oblige...) and Frenchay Common, in north Bristol - it's a marvellous area of riverbank, parkland & woodland within virtual spitting distance of two motorways (M5 & M32), home to a wide range of breeding birds including Dipper, Kingfisher & Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

First new plant of the day was a real surprise; Japanese Mahonia, Mahonia japonica, in flower on an overgrown stretch of riverbank; presumably, as a result of someone being less than fussy where they dumped their garden rubbish From 50-odd yards away, hence on maximum zoom (12x), the pictures won't win any awards, but they'll do - it was one I wasn't expecting to find unless I made the trip to Warley Place (which is still planned...)

Heading on along the river through Eastville Park & Snuff Mills, three species of crocii (Dutch Crocus, C. x hybridus, being a new "tick" alongside more Yellow Crocus, C. x stellaris & a few well naturalised clumps of Early Crocus, C. tommasianus )

The morning's (and, so far, year's) highlight was undoubtedly at Frenchay, though, where the remnants of an old estate that existed before the hospital was built post-WW2 resulted in a fabulous range of naturalised species. Between there and the nearby churchyard, both Spring & Early Crocuses put on a beautiful display, with Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) & what's since been correctly ID'd by Tiggrx as Balkan Anemone (Anemone blanda) in full bloom by the hospital's entrance gate C.

This whole area's been designated as a nature reserve, with plenty of relic shrubs (Spotted-laurel, Aucuba japonica & Portugal Laurel (Prunus lusiticana) are both seeding & well-established in scrubby areas) All in all, a very successful few hours; I was especially pleased to catch up with the Aconites, which I'd made one of my top target species for this Spring

[davidbr]

Anyway, to bring things up to date, I've since been able to add Common Whitlow-grass (Erophila verna), Spurge-laurel (Daphne laureola) and, finally, "genuine" Golden Crocus (C. chrysanthus) on a couple of visits to the Avon Gorge during the first few days of March; unfortunately I also lost one, though, when I had to admit I'd mis-identified some of the large population of Lauristinus (Viburnum tinus) as Shallon (Gaultheria shallon) last summer when they weren't flowering The Gorge, only a couple of miles from Bristol City Centre, must be one of the best-established sites for V. tinus in the UK; you see it quite often as a relic of former planting, but here it's thoroughly naturalised and spreading like wildfire

A return visit to Frenchay on March 2nd, as well as another look at the aconites & anemones, added a few new species; Head-to-head Daffodil (Narcissus x cyclazetta), established in Frenchay Churchyard, and a fine specimen of Coastal Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) as part of the wooded area of the hospital's nature reserve - planted, presumably, but it'd been there a bloody long time

And, not forgetting one of my favourite spring plants; Rue-leaved Saxifrage, Saxifraga tridactylites, its' delicate little white blooms brightening up an abandoned flowerbed within the hospital complex itself. It's good to think that, hopefully, as the month of March progresses more and more species ought to be coming into flower

[davidbr]

7th March 2009

After a generally awful weather forecast of rain & heavy winds moving in, I hadn't had high hopes for today; things started off sunny, though, and stayed that way long enough for a morning wander around the Eastville & Horfield suburbs of Bristol. Royate Hill, with a nature reserve, allotment & cemetery in close proximity, had been a productive hunting ground last summer (largely because the locals seemed in the habit of chucking their garden rubbish over the first wall they could find ); maybe there'd be a few things of interest in early Spring, too?

Heading through Eastville Parks, a carpet of what I eventually identified as Lesser Daffodil (Narcissus minor), of the bright yellow variety conspicuus made a fine sight under a bank of trees; though no doubt originally planted, the size of the trees means they must have been spreading for at least thirty years There was also what looked to be a self-seeded conifer sapling in amongst this lot which, as of yet, I've failed to name - I've posted it up for ID, so hopefully some suggestions will be forthcoming soon

Meanwhile, the flowerbeds in the park were home to some interesting spring ephemerals; Shepherd's-cress (Teesdalia nudicaulis) was a surprise since I thought it only grew on limestone or dry, sandy ground, and Annual Nettle (Urtica urens) was confirmed in slightly painful fashion by gripping a shoot in both fingers Shepherd's-purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) & Sticky Mouse-ear (Cerastium glomeratum), though, probably needed another day of sunshine before they'd be in full bloom.

Unfortunately Royate Hill cemetery was locked up, me having forgotten it was a Saturday (and not being fit enough for wall-hopping duties ); there wasn't a lot around the allotments, either, bar for a bush of Forsythia (Forsythia x intermedia) & clump of Caucasian Snowdrop (Galanthus caucasicus); one coming into flower, one going over and both obvious garden throw-outs As was a lovely patch of Garden Arabis (Arabis caucasicus) - but who cares? Not me, anyway...

Later, in mid-afternoon, I headed off for another look at the Frenchay Hospital area, rapidly becoming one of my Spring hot-spots Growing through a thick carpet of ivy in the hospital nature reserve, I was pleaseed to find a Garden Hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis) in bloom, with dozens more in leaf nearby; obviously well established, it's striking how different they were to the large-flowered types we're used to seeing in spring gardens.

The Balkan Anemones (Anemone blanda) & Spring Crocuses (Crocus vernus) were still out; in the nearby churchyard I managed to find a Ployanthus (Primula x polyantha) amongst the many Primroses, whilst on the daffodil front I managed to identify Pyrenean Daffodil (Narcissus nobilis), Spanish Daffodil ( Narcissus pseudonarcissus ssp. major) & Head-to-Head Daffodil (Narcissus x cyclazetta), as well as a double-flowered thing that's apparently a cultivar called "Double Smiles". So far, ID'ing it hasn't exactly made me smile...

All in all, then, I'd added nine new species to the photo list (ten, if/when I manage to name that mystery conifer ) - not a bad day at all! Especially since, as I write this, the rain's absolutely hammering it down outside...