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How to tell Smaller Cat’s-tail (Phleum bertolonii) from Timothy (Phleum pratense)
When there’s small-looking Timothy, do you flee um? It’s time to whip out that ruler and check for Smaller Cat’s-tail (Phleum bertolonii).
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What’s Flowering? July 6th – July 19th (Weeks 28, 29) – Heatwave / Drought
Worcestershire’s landscape has become increasingly parched over the past couple of weeks, yet some flowers are still to be found despite the conditions. A visit to Kemerton Lake Nature Reserve in the south revealed numerous flowering species, including Clustered Bellflower and Round-leaved Fluellen. Meanwhile, the moister oak-bracken-bramble woods still present a reasonable flora.
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What’s Flowering? June 29th – July 5th (Week 27)
Common Centaury – Creeping Thistle and a lady – Gatekeeper Bracken – Stachys star jumps – Rosebay Wiggleherb – Wood Sage in dune woods – Buttonweed & Sea-heath on the tidal floodplain – Lesser Centaury – Rock Samphire Notes: I was fortunate to be working in Glamorganshire this week near the Merthyr Mawr NNR. I…
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What’s Flowering? June 1st – June 7th (Week 23)
Heath bedstraw & Sheep Sorrel – Bladder Campion – Grey Hair-grass – Dyer’s Greenweed – Great Burnet at Upton Ham – Brown Sedge lawns – Common Meadow-rue – Water Purslane – Heath-grass – Dactylorhiza – Pushing Daisies – Tower Mustard on the verge – Creeping Forget-me-not – Common Yellow-sedge – Heath Rush – Ivy-leaved Crowfoot…
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How to Identify Narrow-leaved Water-dropwort (Oenanthe silaifolia)
I was super excited to come across Narrow-leaved Water-dropwort Oenanthe silaifolia yesterday whilst doing a recce for our in-house floodplain meadow training at Upton Ham. This species is nationally scarce, and we’re lucky to have a few good populations on the Worcestershire floodplains or ‘Hams’ along the River Severn. The Oenanthe genus can be scary,…
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This Week in Photos 11th – 24th May (20, 21)
Week 20 – 11th-17th May Bluebell Ffridd – Lousewort Upper Gam – Bird Cherry – Malvern View – Brassica Week 21 – 18th-24th May Sheep sorrel carpet – Meadow foxtail medley – Wild strawbs – Herb paris paradise – Common Spotted Orchids Notes These last two weeks have really seen the grasses explode into flower.…
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This Week in Photos: May 4th – 10th (19)
Cow Parsley bridge – Pink Hawthorn – Hybrid Campion – Small-flowered Crane’s-bill – Red Sheep Sorrel – Green Hairstreak Notes A limited selection from a couple of outings last week, as we get closer to our wedding. Happy to see the Hybrid Campion and Green Hairstreak!
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This Week in Photos: April 27th – May 3rd – French Alps Edition (18)
Notes This week saw me exploring Annecy, Chamonix and the French Alps as part of my stag-do.
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How to tell Wood-sedge (Carex sylvatica) from Thin-spiked Wood-sedge (Carex strigosa)
Two similar sedges to look out for in woodlands in May are Wood-sedge Carex sylvatica and Thin-spiked Wood-sedge Carex strigosa. They sometimes grow together, even side-by-side (Shrawley Woods) but are relatively straight-forward to tell apart. Wood sedge Carex sylvaticahas utricles which gradually taper to a long beak, has narrower, more ridged leaves and the ligule…
