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.

3/8/09: Barnehurst and Bexleyheath botany

Knopper Galls on Pedunculate Oak on the north edge of Bursted Wood indicates that there is a Turkey oak nearby, as the gall wasp responsible needs both species.

Dogs Mercury was noted by the south east corner of Bursted Wood school field, where a Fox was out and about in daylight following the hedge line.

Within the hospital grounds here was a small patch of Mouse-ear Hawkweed (Pilosella officinarum), which I've so far only found in small amounts in a few scattered loactions in the north west of Bexley Borough.

There was a plant of Black Nightshade in Lavernock Rd.

A number of Robinia pseudoacacia saplings were growing under a hedge in the graveyard of St. John's, Bexleyheath.

The usual assemblage of plants for closely mown grass was in evidence aroound the youth club at the junction of Oakhouse/Highland/Albion Rds, including Buck's-horn Plantain, along with some 'relics' of cultivation such as Sedum (probably album) and Cypress Spurge (Euphorbia cyparissias). There were 3 White Campion. Also Hoary Cress in a nearby shrub bed.

If I'm to add to my lists and make them more comprehensive for given sites, I need to get my head around Compositae. So I got the book out on some tall, distinctive-looking specimens on a 'raised bed' on the south side of Albion Rd. There were several plants, and they were identified as Perennial Sow-thistle (Sonchus arvensis).

Perennial Sow-thistle, Albion Rd, Bexleyheath.

There were a couple more on Watling Street, outside the former Woolwich Building Society premises. There was a single specimen of Meadow Buttercup (Ranunculus acris) in flower on the Erith Rd side, a species that appears to be infrequent hereabouts.

A mosaic-variegated Sycamore sapling was growing out of the hedge round Gravel Hill Primary School (I saw another in a hedge round Russell Park some weeks ago)

Spotted Medick was amongst the species in the grass verge on Epsom Close, and there were two specimens of Sun Spurge on the 'island' in Midfield Parade, Barnehurst. A heather, in flower, was growing out of a split old sack of compost (presumably peat) outside the hardware shop here.

Thyme-leaved Speedwell (Veronica serpyllifolia) was noticed in flower in a lawn on Hillingdon Rd, only my third or fourth record in the Borough of Bexley.

I'd recorded the Himalayan Balsam in a front garden by the path off Northall Rd to Barnehurst station last year, but the collapse of the brick wall since now revealed Common Calamint, a couple of plants of which had now seeded into the wall/tarmac crack along the edge of the public side of the path. This is my second record of the species after finding a few in Martens Grove recently.