A host of golden daffodils….
Over the years the Friends have planted at least a couple of thousand native daffodil bulbs (Narcissus pseudonarcissus) around the edges of the reserve’s woodland. Back breaking work, rewarded at this time of year with the first golden flowers.
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The reserve’s’s ivy flowers between September and November; each plant’s flowering season is quite short but a succession of plants flowers all through the autumn. The flowers are small, green and yellow, and so insignificant-looking that many people don’t realise that that they are flowers at all.
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There are Jerusalem artichokes (Helianthus tuberosus) flowering down by the Lambrok tributary stream. They have been there for five or six years now and are spreading along the bank.
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The rosebay willowherb (Chamaenerion angustifolium) in the reserve is in flower and well worth a look.
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It’s August and the reserve is already full of seeds, fruits and berries, food for our wildlife but not always for its human occupants. Some berries are poisonous and every year we publish pictures of those best avoided.
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Another post about a plant that has many common names: ragwort.
Continue reading “Stinking Willie and marefart”
There are only two species of iris native to the UK and we have them both growing in the reserve: Iris pseudacorus and Iris foetidissima.
Continue reading “IRIS”
The old saying – Shed not a clout ’til may be out – is not an instruction to keep your coat on until June; it’s telling you to take your cardigan off when the may is in flower, which has been known to happen as early as April.
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Every year, the Friends take to the reserve’s bluebell copses to hunt down and pull up Spanish squill, an invasive alien that is threatening the future of our native bluebells.
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Dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) are the commonest of our wildflowers. They grow everywhere: between our paving stones, in flowerbeds, lawns and roadside verges, and straight up through the tarmac of a well-maintained driveway.
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by Ian Bushell
We think we have identified THREE species of cherry trees in the reserve.
Continue reading “Cherry trees”
According to the National Trust, gardens in the south and west of England are coming into flower up to four weeks ahead of schedule. The warm weather and such an early source of nectar will bring our butterflies out of hibernation; one of the earliest reported in the reserve, nearly every year, is the brimstone.
Continue reading “Brimstone”
A host of golden daffodils….
After their short, golden flowering period, the above-ground parts of our daffodils will die back and they will spend the rest of the year hidden underground as bulbs. The bulbs are adapted stems and leaves in which the plants store their food to fuel next year’s spring growth.
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These are not the daffodils we planted in the autumn of 2017; these are a rapidly spreading clump at the bottom of Kestrel Field on the edge of the copse.
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A goat willow’s flowers, or catkins, are known as pussy willow because they look like furry grey kittens’ paws. They appear in February, some weeks before the willow’s leaves, one of the earliest signs of spring in the reserve.
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Our primroses, which have an interestingly complicated sex life, are just beginning to flower in the reserve’s sheltered ditches and copses.
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This is one of our field maples, Acer campestre, growing next to the circular path at the top of Simpson’s Field. The photograph was taken on April 1st 2021.
Continue reading “Bud burst”
This is a red dead nettle (Lamium purpureum), one of the earliest of the reserve’s wildflowers.
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The reserve’s ivy blooms from the beginning of September right through November; each plant’s flowering season is quite short but a succession of plants flowers all through the autumn and into the winter. The flowers are small, green and yellow, and so insignificant-looking that many people don’t realise that that they are flowers at all.
Read on:
The changing climate rushes our flowering season on and the reserve is already full of seeds, fruits and berries, food for our wildlife but not always for its human occupants. Some berries are poisonous and every year we publish pictures of those best avoided.
Continue for details and pictures
This strange growth is called a robin’s pincushion.
Continue reading “Robin’s pincushion”
The rosebay willowherb (Chamaenerion angustifolium) in the Arboretum is in flower and well worth a look.
Read on:
The lesser celandines (Ficaria verna) are in flower.
Continue reading “Lesser Celandine”
There are Jerusalem artichokes (Helianthus tuberosus) flowering down by the Lambrok tributary stream. They have been there for three or four years now and are spreading along the bank.
Read on:
Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve 