18/9/10: 'The Old Orchard' south of Hall Place, east of the A2

Another visit to the scrubland south of the railway track that runs past Hall Place, on some maps called the 'Old Orchard'. I spent a bit of time here watching the trains go by when I was a teenager. In those days (the mid 70s) people used to dig here for old bottles, so I presume it was a Victorian rubbish dump. Now it has a diverse - if somewhat eclectic - flora with large bushes, medium-sized trees and some areas of thin soil, sparse vegetation and rubble, backed by oak woodland on what I assume is the southern valley side of the River Cray floodplain.

Crayford 'Old Orchard' scrubland, looking south-east to the oak-covered ridge

Noticeable today - having 'clocked' it for the first time on a recent LNHS trip to Bookham - was a lot of Red Bartsia, a plant I've not found in Bexley Borough before. There were still a few flowers hanging on.

There were Common Toadflax, a few pale cream Lucerne x Sickle Medick hybrids, two Asparagus, four Lesser Swine Cress, Hop and a lot of Common St. John's-wort, the latter in flower. A single, 'dwarfed' plant of Upright Hedge Parsley was found in a rabbit-grazed patch. Other singletons were a Hoary Ragwort and a Vervain. A few Marjoram plants were still in bloom, both pale purple-violet and white variants. Geranium rotundifolium was noted, and several Geranium pyrenaicum occurred along the track between the railway and pumping station towards Crayford. Shrubs included a Spindle, Dogwood and Sloe. Field Maple was also present. A few clusters of fungi were also noted.

Common Toadflax on a mound, looking north to the ridge atop Gravel Hill on the horizon

Subtle colours of some fungal fruiting bodies

Deciding to explore more of the site than previously, I eventually headed up a track at the west end of the site, parallel to the A2 Rochester Way (which veers slightly more westward as the Dartford by-pass), which eventually led to a scrappy industrial site at the southern end of the remains of the original Rochester Way. A large White Poplar had fallen across the track, which was bordered on each side by non-native, planted shrubs and trees - including saplings of False Acacia and Tree of Heaven.

Fallen White Poplar with attractive lenticel pattern on the trunk

Towards the industrial estate I found some open ground smothered in Common Stork's-bill. There were also several Wild Parsnip and some Soapwort. Just before the estate were a couple of suspected non-native grasses and, the the northern end of the old Rochester Way, some Ribbed Melilot.

Looking rather like reed Canary Grass, the flowers of this largish unidentified species were far spikier

Round the corner, by the road into the industrial area, were Small Ranunculus moth caterpillars on Prickly Lettuce.

By poking about in an unpromising-looking, shady, shallow sandy pit where rubble etc. had been dumped some time ago, I found a single plant of Stone Parsley which I believe to be uncommon in the Borough, also Greater Celandine and the herbs Spearmint, Lemon Balm and Feverfew.

Further on was a larger, open sandpit with a couple of Vervain, some Wild Carrot, a few Sheep's Sorrel and a self-sown Snowberry.

After some more persistence I came across an out-of the-way track atop a south-facing steep sandy bank, overlooking a housing estate. This had several large Broom plants on it, and most interestingly, it was smothered with Hare's-foot Clover, a definite London rarity, and also lots of mining bee nests holes. A good end to the afternoon, by which time there wasn't enough light to take a decent picture on my mobile phone camera.

28/7/10: Sevenoaks and KWT urban greenspaces day

Down to Sevenoaks today for a Kent Wildlife Trust teach-in on the 'Living Landscapes' project, creating green corridors and enhancing urban greenspaces for people and wildlife. To be honest it turned out to be a little too basic for me in most respects. I was really after more depth on management for various species, more detail on dealing with various conflicting demands and how to resolve these, especially 'excuses' involving inertia, inflexibility and claims that we 'can't afford it' from Councils and various utilities.

Nevertheless, some useful stuff was picked up as a result, including an actual site-specific management plan for allotment wildlife, which I've not had a chance to read yet, but may be a help 'back home' in trying the establish the principle. My own Council hasn't even started the species recording process on its wildlife sites - 6 years after the target completion date - yet fills LDFs and BAPs with worthy pronouncements about protecting and increasing biodiversity in open spaces, including allotments, that it seems disinclined to act upon, data or otherwise.

The afternoon included a visit to a very large allotment site off Kennedy Gardens, with fine views northwards (below):


I only looked at a few plots, but there were some interesting 'weed' species, including Papaver rhoeas, 4 Fool's Parsley, Galinsoga (possibly Gallant Soldier), several Bugloss and Common Fumitory.

The streets I traversed in the area had a similar 'weed' flora to that in my part of Bexley, though Ivy-leaved Toadflax seemed more prevalant here.

Highlights were a couple of Hare's-foot Clover in the line of a recently planted hedge in Hollybush Lane Sports Ground, 5 Pyramidal Orchids in a front garden lawn on Vine Court Rd (next to, rather inevitably, a garden covered in a skip and gravel ....) and 15 or more Papaver (probably) rupifragum along the roadside boundary of The Vine cricket ground on Dartford Rd.

Time was then spent over a couple of pints in a local hostelry discussing ways to bring about a more radical approach to enhancing biodiversity, and maximising the amount of wildlife in Bexley, with a recent contact who has long been pushing for such improvements in the Borough.

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.

13/6/09: Highway aliens and Hare's-foot Clover

More botanising in Bexleyheath.

Geranium robertianum, Nipplewort, Ground Elder, Hedge Bindweed and Black Medick in the shrub beds surrounding the wasteland that is the car park behind The Mall.

Fairly typical 'weeds' in beds along the north side of Albion Rd, behind the Broadway, including Prickly Lettuce, Creeping Thistle, Shepherd's Purse, Redshank, Hedge Mustard and Black Horehound. Plus a couple of aliens. Firstly a Virginia Creeper seedling (I've now seen several 'naturalised' plants in London and Bristol) seen on the left of a Smooth Sow Thistle in a crack between a wall and the pavement. Second this young leaf-curl disease free Peach tree, presumably grown from a stone discarded by a passer-by.

Natives along this capitulation to the motor car of a road included several Hops (including one growing, appropriately enough, over a building sporting the sign 'Maison Maurice Wholesalers to the Licensed Trade'), Common Mallow, Great Willowherb, a large stand of bracken marching through a formal shrub bed towards the Bexleyheath Conservative Party HQ (nature will win in the end), Woody Nightshade and Lesser Swine Cress.

The real highlight on Albion Rd is in the grass by the tile shop, at the junction with the Broadway. This is Hare's-foot Clover (Trifolium arvense) - an annual plant 'frequent to locally common, especially in the east and south east', but which seems to be uncommon in London as far as I can make out. Here there are around 31 separate plants, 29 of them in a roughly 12' by 2' strip. Ever since I discovered them back in April I've been coming back to see if a decent number of flower heads were out for a photogarph. There would have been a couple of weeks ago were it not for a typically indiscriminate and over-zealous mowing regime which had decapitated earlier flower stems. Indeed it looks like they can only persist because of being part-protected by a metal fence and being on a fall-off slope at the edge of the grassed area (see pictures).

By garages on Russell Close (off Woolwich Rd) was, amongst other things, a vigorous Dwarf Mallow (top), with its procumbent habit and pink flowers and there was a good show of flowers on a White Bryony (below), a relative of the Cucumber, on the edge of Russell Park.