The Botanical Society of the British Isles regularly runs a
New Year Plant Hunt. So instead of curling up on the settee with a nice warm laptop, I spent New Year's morning hunting for wild flowers. I was rather pessimistic. After a few days of hard frosts, what would be left? I was surprised by how many flowers I found. Mostly they were the little 'weeds' that we ignore. Just for once, I paid attention to them and appreciated their quirky beauty. There they were, battered by the weather but still standing.
If you wish to go straight to a full list of my New Year's flowers, scroll to the bottom of the page.
Before I really started, I nipped over to Tesco Express to get a newspaper. In unregarded in-between places, such as those where a wall meets the ground and the edge of the grass nearby, I found plants of my childhood memories including groundsel and shepherd's purse. I have vivid memories of opening the tiny purse-like seed heads with my little fingers and finding the "money" inside.
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| Shepherd's purse |
I threaded through the twittens between the houses of our estate. On my way, I found smooth sow thistle, petty spurge and some naturalised red valerian.
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| Tiny green flowers of petty spurge |
Turning into Lime Tree Avenue, I found a few early sprigs of cow parsley.
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| Cow parsley |
I was a little disappointed not to find primroses blooming there but was charmed to find a wren flitting about amongst their emerging leaves and the ruby buds of lime tree twigs. Passing by Osbourne hall, a rather grandly named hut, I found daisies at the edge of the path.
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| Daisy |
I expected to find loads of flowers in the Hempstead Meadow Nature Reserve but no, just one glum looking meadowsweet. On the way out, I had a lovely encounter with two mums, with rosy cheeked toddlers on their backs, coming into the reserve for a walk. In the Waitrose car park, I had better luck, and added white deadnettle and hairy bittercress to my list.
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| white deadnettle |
After crossing the High Street, I inspected some yarrow leaves under trees outside the main Tesco car park. I didn't find any flowers but I did find a ladybird. Further along the wall, I found the tiny flowers of common chickweed. The soft green leaves made a vivid contrast with the smooth, red brick.
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| Harlequin ladybird |
Checking some scruffy-looking grass protected by the hedge dividing Tesco from the fire station, I found a dandelion and black medic flowers. Nearby, on the verge between the road and the pavement, the long, tussocky grass contained yarrow flowers.
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| Black medic. |
Belmont Road takes me past the oast house and up to Holy Cross, where I find red deadnettles nestling at the church's feet. Looking up, the old walls are festooned with yellow corydalis.
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| Yellow corydalis in the church wall |
Turning out of the church yard, I finally find some weather beaten primroses in bloom.
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| Primroses |
Heading home via the High Street I spy some stray tussocks of annual meadow grass, which have colonised out of the way nooks and crannies by the shop fronts.
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| Annual meadow grass. |
Just past the shops, the High Street takes me past an old wall partly covered with long established clumps of naturalised corydalis and wall bellflower.
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| Wall bellflower. |
On the way home, I passed a swathe of ivy flowers. Finally, I checked our own garden and was able to add lesser celandine and gorse to the list.
My lists
Location: Uckfield, British National Grid TQ4721
Wild flowers flowering on New Year's Day:
- Achillea millefolium (yarrow)
- Anthriscus sylvestris (cow parsley)
- Bella perennis (daisy)
- Capsella bursa-pastoris (shepherd's purse)
- Cardamine hirsuta (hairy bittercress)
- Euphorbia peplus (petty spurge)
- Filipendula ulmaria (meadowsweet)
- Hedera helix (ivy)
- Lamium album (white deadnettle)
- Lamium purpureum (red deadnettle)
- Medicago Arabica (black medic)
- Poa annua (annual meadow grass)
- Primula vulgaris (primrose)
- Senecio vulgaris (common groundsel)
- Sonchus oleraceus (smooth sow-thistle)
- Ranunculus ficaria (lesser celandine)
- Stellaria media (common chickweed)
- Taraxacum officinale (dandelion)
- Ulex europaeus (gorse)
Naturalised flowers:
- Campanula portenschlagiana (wall bellflower)
- Centranthus ruber (red valerian)
- Corydalis lutea (yellow corydalis)
