Botany
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How to tell Smaller Cat’s-tail (Phleum bertolonii) from Timothy (Phleum pratense)
When there’s small-looking Timothy, do you flee um? It’s time to whip out that ruler and check for Smaller Cat’s-tail (Phleum bertolonii).
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What’s Flowering? July 6th – July 19th (Weeks 28, 29) – Heatwave / Drought
Worcestershire’s landscape has become increasingly parched over the past couple of weeks, yet some flowers are still to be found despite the conditions. A visit to Kemerton Lake Nature Reserve in the south revealed numerous flowering species, including Clustered Bellflower and Round-leaved Fluellen. Meanwhile, the moister oak-bracken-bramble woods still present a reasonable flora.
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What’s Flowering? June 1st – June 7th (Week 23)
Heath bedstraw & Sheep Sorrel – Bladder Campion – Grey Hair-grass – Dyer’s Greenweed – Great Burnet at Upton Ham – Brown Sedge lawns – Common Meadow-rue – Water Purslane – Heath-grass – Dactylorhiza – Pushing Daisies – Tower Mustard on the verge – Creeping Forget-me-not – Common Yellow-sedge – Heath Rush – Ivy-leaved Crowfoot…
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This Week in Photos 11th – 24th May (20, 21)
Week 20 – 11th-17th May Bluebell Ffridd – Lousewort Upper Gam – Bird Cherry – Malvern View – Brassica Week 21 – 18th-24th May Sheep sorrel carpet – Meadow foxtail medley – Wild strawbs – Herb paris paradise – Common Spotted Orchids Notes These last two weeks have really seen the grasses explode into flower.…
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How to tell Wood-sedge (Carex sylvatica) from Thin-spiked Wood-sedge (Carex strigosa)
Two similar sedges to look out for in woodlands in May are Wood-sedge Carex sylvatica and Thin-spiked Wood-sedge Carex strigosa. They sometimes grow together, even side-by-side (Shrawley Woods) but are relatively straight-forward to tell apart. Wood sedge Carex sylvaticahas utricles which gradually taper to a long beak, has narrower, more ridged leaves and the ligule…
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This Week in Photos & Flowers : April 20th – 26th (17)
Bluebells at Pound Green – Bitter-vetch – ‘Wonky Horns’ – Annual knawel leaves – Ducklings – Teesdalia habitat – Pudford Sunset – Stork’s-bill on the verge Notes This week, St. Mark’s Flies have taken to the skies coinciding nicely with the start of the hawthorn blossom. The docile flight of St. Mark’s Fly seems to…
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Guide: Colour Variations in Sweet Violet (Viola odorata)
Did you know there are different coloured varieties of Sweet Violet? I went looking for them, and managed to photograph four different forms this spring. How many have you seen?
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79 Lane-side Plants to Look for this Spring (Hopehouse Lane, 2025)
They reckon your brain works better after a walk in nature, and I agree. Every day I spend at the office, I go on a short walk. Hopehouse Farm to St. Peter’s Church via Hopehouse Lane. This post explores the botanical diversity encountered during that walk.
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This Week in Photos: 16th – 22nd of February (8)
Snow above the Teme – Wood Ant Seedlings – Ponds in Kyre – First Frogspawn – First Bumblebees Mostly a small collection of phone photos for this week. It has definitely felt spring-like, with the arrival of the frogspawn and seeing bees and wood ants emerging. Roll on spring!
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This Week in Photos: 9th – 15th of February – Spanish Edition (7)
A slightly different taste this week, as we were in Andalucía, chasing sunshine. It always amazes me how much there is to see in Spain in February. I’ve tried to distil our trip into a series of galleries, roughly for each day or place. For a more in-depth look at the botanical finds from the…
