Saturday 28 May 2011

Wild Flowers (3): 2011 count update

Fox-and-cubs
Having spotted my first clump of Sea Campion this season, a further wild flower sighting today - this time of the unmissable Fox-and-cubs aka Hawkweed - has brought me to the halfway mark of my previous total (way back in the late 1960s!).

As some of you regular readers may know, I took part in an ongoing wild flower count one summer term, back in the 1960s, when I was at junior school in Kent, UK. Each pupil had to find as many species of wild flowers as possible. We recorded our finds after every weekend, and attempted to learn the names of ten new species for a test each Friday.

During the course of the term, I noted a total of 144 species, including a few garden escapes. Perhaps inevitably, we picked one or two Daisies and Buttercups along the way, but we soon learned that some plants were rare, and that e.g. the sight alone of an Orchid was more than sufficient for our purposes.

I thought it would be interesting to note the wild flowers I see this year. I used The Concise British Flora in Colour by W. Keble Martin when I was at school. Once again, I will be happy to include any plant featured in that book.

The list to date is as follows (and - just to underline this - I have no intention of picking these flowers!) ... I shall add flower names as I come across new species. I don't intend to post a photo of every 'find', but I will add the occasional picture, and I plan to include livelinks when there is a photo available.


  1. Snowdrop (South Wales, location A) - January
  2. Primrose (ditto) - January
  3. Cowslip (ditto) - April
  4. Daisy (South Wales, location P) - 26 February
  5. Dandelion (garden!) - April
  6. Wild Garlic (South Wales, location A) - April
  7. Bluebell (ditto) - April
  8. Wood Anemone (ditto) - April
  9. Wood Sorrel (ditto) - April
  10. Ivy-leaved Toadflax (ditto) - April
  11. Herb Robert (ditto) - April
  12. Pink Campion (ditto) - April
  13. Solomon's Seal (ditto) - April
  14. Cow Parsley (lanes, South Wales) - April
  15. Wild Arum (South Wales, location A) - April
  16. Cuckoo Flower | Lady's Smock | Cardamine pratensis (South Wales, location W) - April
  17. Coltsfoot (South Wales, location A) - April
  18. Speedwell (South Wales, location A) - April 
  19. Violet (South Wales, location A) - April
  20. Poppy (South Wales, location A) - April 
  21. Dog's Mercury (South Wales, location A) - April
  22. Snakeshead Fritillary (South Wales, location A) - April
  23. Horsetail (South Wales, location W) - 21 April 
  24. Lesser Celandine (Yorkshire, location M) - April
  25. Wild Wallflower (Yorkshire, location S) - April
  26. Marsh Marigold (South Wales, location A, D1) - April
  27. Early Purple Vetch (South Wales, location A, D1) - April
  28. Gorse (South Wales, Gower lanes; Yorkshire coast) - April
  29. Yellow Pimpernel (South Wales, location D1) - 25 April
  30. Buttercup  (South Wales, location D1) - 25 April
  31. Early Purple Orchid (South Wales, location A) - April
  32. Yellow Flag  (South Wales, location W) - 31 April
  33. Groundsel (South East Wales, location C) - 2 May
  34. Dove's Foot Cranesbill (South East Wales, location C) - 2 May
  35. Red Valerian  (South East Wales, location C) - 2 May
  36. Yellow Trefoil (South East Wales, location C) - 2 May
  37. Ramping Fumitory | Fumaria capreolata (South East Wales, location C) - 2 May
  38. Red Clover (South Wales, location A) - May
  39. White Clover (South Wales, location A) - May
  40. Wild Strawberry (South Wales, location A) - May
  41. Chickweed (South Wales, location A) - May
  42. Goosegrass (South Wales, location A) - May 
  43. Bugle (South Wales, location A) - May 
  44. Common Cinquefoil (South Wales, location A) - May  
  45. Early Wintercress (South Wales, location A) - May  
  46. Ox Eye Daisy (South Wales, M4) - May  
  47. Sorrel (Worcester) - May  
  48. Pink Valerian (Worcester) - May  
  49. White Valerian (Worcester) - May  
  50. Dog Rose (Worcester) - May   ......................................................... First Fifty!
  51. Common Comfrey | Symphytum officinale (Worcester) - May   
  52. Field Bindweed | Convolvulus arvensis (Worcester) - May   
  53. Shepherd's Purse (Peterborough) - May   
  54. White Dead Nettle | Lamium album (Peterborough) - May
  55. Purple Dead Nettle (Peterborough) - May  
  56. Alkanet (Herefordhshire, location C) - May 
  57. Yellow Cinquefoil (Herefordshire, location C) - May  
  58. Welsh Poppy | Meconopsis cambrica (South Wales, location A) - May  
  59. Teasel (South Wales, location W) - 19 May 2011
  60. Purple Loosestrife (South Wales, location W) - 19 May 2011
  61. Woody Nightshade (South Wales, location W) - 19 May 2011
  62. Ragwort (Worcester) - May 2011
  63. Bird's Foot Trefoil (South Wales, location T) - 19 May 2011
  64. Common Vetch (South Wales, location W) - 19 May 2011
  65. Ragged Robin (South Wales, location W) - 19 May 2011 
  66. Blackberry (South Wales, location D2) - 22 May 2011
  67. Burdock (South Wales, location D2) - 22 May 2011
  68. Common Hemp Nettle (South Wales, location D1) - 22 May 2011
  69. Periwinkle (South Wales, location W) - 24 May 2011 
  70. Lesser Stitchwort (South Wales, location W) - 24 May 2011 
  71. Sea Campion (South Wales, location T) - 28 May 2011 
  72. Fox-and-cubs | Hawkweed (South Wales, location A) - 28 May 2011 .... Halfway to previous total
  73. Purple Toadflax (South Wales, location J) - 29 May 2011
  74. Scarlet Pimpernel (South Wales, location A) - 20 June 2011

Have you spotted any interesting wild flowers in your neck of the woods recently?

1 comment:

Crafty Green Poet said...

I love orange hawkweed, i don't know why, but I had never heard it called fox and cubs before