Adur Wild Flowers 2020

To see a World in a grain of sand,
And Heaven in a wild flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour

William Blake

The small Common Broomrapes seen in Frampton's Field yesterday were so faraway I returned with a long lens, but I still found them difficult to focus on amongst the ungrazed vegetation. On the southern bank of the Mill Hill Cutting I trampled some Cotoneaster, and found hundreds more Common Spotted Orchids.
Adur Orchids
Bladder Campion was very easily seen in large clumps in the meadow north of the upper car park on Mill Hill.
Silver Ragwort was flowering on Shoreham Beach.

Musk Mallow was seen for the first time this year on a verge in Mill Hill Road where a reported Bee Orchid could not be found.
On the southern part of Mill Hill, there must have been two hundred Knapweed Broomrapes and even more of the smaller Yellow Rattle. The first purple flowers of Greater Knapweed appeared, seen in the light rain on a cloudy late afternoon.
The PIxie Path hosted a few very small Pyramidal Orchids, a budding Goatsbeard and two unfamiliar Wild Iris, Iris foetidissima.
The southern bank of Mill Hill Cutting hosted over a hundred Common Spotted Orchids and wish at least ten Southern Marsh Orchids. This was more of the latter I had ever seen before.
Lastly, there were some very small Common Broomrape seen in Frampton's Field from a distance (with Keith Wilson). These were the first for several years and the first ever seen in that field.
Illustrated Orchid Report
Adur Orchids

The tall Yellow Wort and the ground hugging Wild Thyme were both flowering. More of the diminutive Eyebright and the tall Dropwort graced the lower slopes of Mill Hill. Hound's-tongue were going to seed nearby. A few Meadow Cranesbill and the first Greater Knapweed were seen on the southern top part of Mill Hill.

29 May 2020
Debut of the year wild flowers were Common Spotted Orchid on the Slonk Hill Cutting (south), and Spear Thistle in the the north-east corner of Shoreham Airport, amongst a large thistle patch of Welted Thistles and Slender Thistles.
Adur Orchids

I made just a very brief visit to the top southern part of Mill Hill on a demonstration ebike where I met Philippa of the South Downs National Park Authority. Parasitic plants were much in evidence: frequent scattered first growths of the very distinctive Knapweed Broomrape and the small yellow flowers of Yellow Rattle. Wild Mignonette was seen by the layby.
Sussex Rare Plant Register

25 May 2020
Slender Thistle was in flower on the eastern side of the River Adur on the narrow ledge between the cyclepath by Ropetackle North and the river. Ox-eye Daisies were now profusely in bloom by the cyclepath at Old Shoreham.

24 May 2020
Small Heath Butterflies (10+) frequently fluttered around a thistle patch in the north-east corner of Shoreham Airport. Welted Thistle was the only one flowering but plenty of prickles penetrated my trousers. The soil was dry but there was still Yellow Flag in flower by the perimeter drainage ditch. The tidal defences reforming of the airport towpath created a new west-facing embankment which was colonised by the welcome sight of large patches of Kidney Vetch, with a smaller number of clumps of first of the year Melilot and Tufted Vetch, as well as clumps of White Clover and Hop Trefoil, scattered White Campion, occasional Red Campion, and two clumps of Mayweed. Most unexpected were the first shoots of Glasswort that appeared on dry sand next to the airport road Cecil Pashley Way.
Adur Levels 2020

I noted Viper's Bugloss and Yellow-horned Poppy on Shoreham Beach East for the first time this year.

21 May 2020
Wild Carrot was seen with its flowering umbel for the first time this year next to the path immediately north of Ropetackle North building site. Welted Thistle was next to it.

In the shimmering haze, vast swathes of Sea Kale were flowering on the shingle above the high tide mark on the eastern part of Shoreham Beach. In the zone nearer the shore Red Valerian was blooming amongst the leaves of Silver Ragwort. Tree Mallow was impressive as any previous year. I also noted frequent Oxford Ragwort, a few flowers of Kidney Vetch, and clumps of Thrift and Sea Campion. There was an early rosette and flowers of Cat's Ear and the first flowers of a single bush of Broom.
The Adur Recreation Ground central wild flower meadow was full of flowering Borage, Purple Bugloss and Blue Tansy.
Cichorioid Daisies

Summer was inching in with the first diminutive Eyebrights on the lower slopes of Mill Hill where there were a few Bramble and Bittersweet flowers and White Bryony. Flower firsts on the middle part of Mill Hill Nature Reserve included Rough Hawkbit, Dogwood and Yellow Rattle. Bladder Campion was budding.

The beach flowers were beginning to bloom in the sunshine, the first swathes of Red Valerian near the Church of the Good Shepherd, and Sea Kale, Hoary Cress, Thrift, Sea Campion, Mouse-eared Hawkweed, Cat's Ear, Bird's-foot Trefoil, Ivy-leaved Toadflax, Scarlet Pimpernel, on the Widewater flood plain.
Cichorioid Daisies

19 April 2020
The first Hawthorn of the year flowered on the verges of the footpath section of the Waterworks Road, Old Shoreham. Bugle was growing on the verges at the top of Erringham Road as usual.
Adur Thorn

Earlier than usual, the first Horseshoe Vetch, Hippocrepis comosa, appeared in flower on the lower slopes of Mill Hill, It was in the middle below the path, amongst the grass and brambles, not where it is usually seen first. The first Milkwort and Bulbous Buttercups also appeared.
Dandelions on Mill Hill
Woodlands Trust: Buttercups

13 April 2020
Garlic Mustard was now flowering profusely on the verges of the Coombes Road around Cuckoo's Corner, with White Deadnettle, Ramsons, and the first of the Cow Parsley. The first of the Ground Ivy was noted and a solitary Red Campion.

9 April 2020
A Common Bee-fly visited the Dog Violets were scattered over the lower slopes of Mill Hill, the land now dried after the recent dry weather.

7 April 2020
Blackthorn was flowering near the Scout Hut on the Coombes Road. Hawthorn was in leaf at Cuckoo's Corner where the first Garlic Mustard flowered by the side of the road.

23 March 2020
Sweet Violets were scattered over the lower slopes of Mill Hill, now dried after the weekend sunshine.
Adur Violets

19 March 2020
Blackthorn was flowering in the Waterworks Road, Old Shoreham, one bush ahead of the rest.
Adur Thorn

The best place to see thousands (hundreds of clumps) of Snowdrops was on the verges of the Coombes road to Botolphs where the first few yellow flowers of Lesser Celandine were just appearing. Two clumps of Primroses graced the verges of the Downs Link north of Adur Flyover. Dandelions and White Deadnettle were noted flowering on the Downs Link verges near Botolphs. Oxford Ragwort flowered near Shoreham Railway Station.

No Snowdrops were in the other large churchyards in Old and New Shoreham and only a few flowering clumps in St. Julians.

30 January 2020
Daffodils were flowering in their usual profusion at the bottom of Parkside and on Park Avenue Open Space, both near Buckingham Park, north Shoreham. This was nearly two weeks earlier than last year.

A clump of Mistletoe was spotted in the fork of a tree in the Park Avenue Open Space. This was the first time I have noted this parasitic plant.
Adur Mistletoe

29 January 2020
In Buckingham Park, Shoreham, the first Daffodil of the year appeared in flower.

Adur Recreation Ground (map) is land reclaimed in the early twentieth century from the River Adur estuary from mud flats called Scurvy Bank. This involved the deposition of soil from out of the local area to create a new mown grass habitat with the addition of planted trees and Poppy and other flower beds. In more recent years, more soil was introduced in the form of a long raised dyke on the eastern perimeter, and with this new soil came non local wild and naturalised plants from seed or rhizome. The neophyte Winter Heliotrope flowers in the winter months and attracted a fly, my first arthropod of the year. A single Annual Mercury, Mercurialis annua, was seen near the moorings with its light green flowers and darker green leaves.
Adur Daisies

1 January 2020
The first flowers of the decade, just after midnight, were Herb Robert by the wheelie bins. Elsewhere in residential Shoreham I noted the flowering remnants of Hawkweed Ox-tongue, and on the grass verges there were Common Daises and Dandelions.