New Year Plant Hunt 2017 | NATURAL SURROUNDINGS

NEW YEAR PLANT HUNT 2 January 2017

Despite a keen wind on the ‘high tops’ and a couple of showers, we were joined by a dozen or more friends and visitors for a lovely walk around the Bayfield Estate, surprising ourselves by finding 43 species of wild plant in flower. This is not as good as last year but, given the recent hard frosts that had put paid to many blooms (we did not even find Herb Robert in flower), our total was pretty respectable. We were helped by the presence of several children – not only keen and sharp-eyed, but also closer to the ground! As usual, the best areas were arable margins, where late-flowering annuals could still be found. Highlights included Flixweed, Sharp-leaved Fluellen and lots of Dwarf Spurge, all scarce arable weeds that would be good to find at the height of the season in August or September. We also found good numbers of Blue Fleabane in full flower on a temporary bank, a reflection of the chalk that lies close to the surface in many parts of the estate. The full list is as follows: