Two New Year Wild Flower Hunts coming up:                                                                                1 January in Brockwell Park, London Borough of Lambeth.

Report:  c. 16 people turned up and spent about 90 minutes wandering around the Park.  The snowy spell in December had obviously depleted the number of plants which we were able to find in flower, so we found only 21 species (11 less than last year).  However we were able to find two plants – charlock, Sinapis arvensis, and cow parsley, Anthriscus sylvestris – which we had not recorded in previous years.

2 January on Tooting Common, London Borough of Wandsworth, both starting at 11 a.m.

Report: c. 20 people gathered in the sun to join a wander around the Common trying to find plants in flower.  Compared with 2022, when 37 species were recorded, these were few and far between, and our total reached only 18.  Even daisy, Bellis perennis, which tops most recorder’s lists, was difficult to find.  However, we were able to enjoy fully extended male catkins of hazel, Corylus avellana, and examine the less easily seen female flowers.  We searched for Asiatic bittercress, Cardamine occulta, which was probably introduced when the avenue of small-leaved limes, Tilia cordata, was planted, and which was first  recorded on the Common in January 2021, and seen again in January 2022, but has now apparently been forced out by more vigorous species.

‘It was a terrifically informative morning, thank you.’

Image:  Roy Vickery with red deadnettle, Lamium purpureum, Tooting Common, December 2022, © Carlos Bruzon.