28/8/09: more Bexleyheath botany - another Hare's-foot Clover site

There was a Black Nightshade in a garden on Woolwich Rd.

A sheet of wooden hoarding had been pulled down to the side of the demolition site at 238 The Broadway, near Church Rd. The next bit will probably get me arrested for trespass, but since I could see an impressive patch of the uncommon London plant, Hare's-foot Clover, in I went to take some photos.


Hare's-foot Clover (centre), an uncommon London plant, growing in a demolition site on the Broadway (Bexleyheath), just over the road from another colony of the species

This location is a short distance away from the colony near the junction of Albion Rd and the Broadway, but the plants there are much smaller in all parts - no doubt due to having been mown down repeatedly by over-zealous Council contractors. It's not hard to imagine that some young persons have mucked about on the demolition site and have unwittingly been the vectors that have transferred seed from one side of the Broadway to the other.

There was a flock of approximately 56 Starlings over Glengall Rd, and several patches of Liverwort with 'parasol' type fruiting bodies along the foot of the east wall of the Royal Mail Office here.

Knopper Galls were on a Pedunculate Oak behind the 'up' platform of Bexleyheath station.

There were some Nipplewort plants in an alley off Pickford Close, and Yarrow and Petty Spurge in front gardens. A Tomato plant was growing between a wall and the pavement at the end of the Close.

Self Heal was noted in a garden on Brampton Rd, and Spear Thistle and Red Valerian outside the closed-down pub on the corner of Shakespeare Rd.

On the other side of Brampton Rd, in the parade of small shops, this Hart's-tongue Fern was pictured growing at the foot of a down-pipe between nos. 211A and 213A. It's an infrequent plant in urban locations in this area, but this is the sort of micro-habitat in which it can sometimes be found.

Hart's-tongue Fern - the extra moisture available at the foot of this down-pipe provides a survivable micro-habitat in an otherwise unsuitable area

There were 2 plants of Goat's-rue in a weedy front garden in Nicola Terrace on Long Lane, whilst this lawn sported a fine mat of Mouse-ear Hawkweed further east:


Mouse-ear Hawkweed in a garden lawn on Long Lane

A large specimen of Greater Celandine was noted in an alley behind the plant shop at the junction of Long Lane and Heversham Rd.