Adur Wild Flowers 2021

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

20 December 2021
A few Bristly Ox-tongue and Hawkweed Ox-tongue were seen on the verges of the cyclepath between Ropetackle and Old Shoreham first meander.

Bristly Ox-tongue had largely replaced Hawkweed Ox-tongue on the verges of the cyclepath between Ropetackle and Old Shoreham where a clump of Common Toadflax was spotted.

23 September 2021
After the driest September this century the downs were parched with dried grasses and plants. And everywhere the flowers had disappeared apart from a handful of late flowering ruderals. It was time for the berries and spiders as we move past middle autumn. With absence of nectar, butterflies were few except for the frequent whites.

12 July 2021
On the Downs Link verges at Old Shoreham I noted Mugwort, Everlasting Pea, Hemp Agrimony. Black Horehound and Perennial Sow Thistle.
Prevalent on the western bank of he Adur by the airport were large clumps and tiny purple flowers of what may be Smooth Tare, Ervum tetraspermum.

As is usual post Summer Solstice the flora on the verges of the Downs Link changed and dramatically was now beginning to be dominated by the Knapweeds and Bedstraws with prevalent Melilot and umbellifers Hogweed and Wild Carrot. The petals of the carpets of Oxeye Daisies were falling off, but clumps of Mayweed were flowering and the first Rosebay Willowherb showed. Tufted Vetch, Pyramidal Orchids, Creeping Thistle, Common Mallow, Common Ragwort, Yarrow, Perforate St. John's Wort, were all frequently seen with early Hawkweed Ox-tongues and Bristly Ox-tongues, the green growths of Teasels and Weld, and the tall Viper's Bugloss.

Common Bird's-foot Trefoil Lotus corniculatus is shorter and grows in dry grassland. Its stems are solid whereas the stems of Lotus pedunculatus are hollow.

19 May 2021
Swathes of Horseshoe Vetch, Hippocrepis comosa, covered the lower slopes of Mill Hill on a cloudy afternoon inimical for watching butterflies.
Hawthorn was beginning to flower on the downs. Patches of Crosswort, Cowslips and Germander Speedwell decorated the area south of the Reservoir on Mill Hill.