Great to see such a fabulous show of Lesser Calamint (Clinopodium calamintha syn. Calamintha nepeta) flower at its only know site in London, near the ruined Abbey.
Lesser Calamint, at Lesnes Abbey. Second, close-up shot, shows it next to fellow Labiate Black Horehound (Ballota nigra).
In the mud round the lower of the Abbey ponds were several Trifid Bur-marigold and some Celery-leaved Crowfoot (Ranunculus sceleratus). The alien water fern Azolla, present last year, appears to have died out, maybe because of the hard winter, the subsequent drought, silt clearance or some combination of these.
After some pond-clearance work with LACV members up in the woods themselves, I made my way to the 'sea wall' at Crossness, via Belvedere railway station, during which time the weather improved somewhat. Unusually, there was only one Shelduck in sight and few Mallard, but lots of Gadwall. An unidentified Hawker Dragonfly whizzed past.
There was an Asparagus plant by the Incinerator. Towards Erith, by the fence at Dee Dee removals, a previously unnoticed Apple tree (pictured below) now stood out with its massive crop of small (27mm diameter) red fruits, looking just like cherries when viewed from above.
Further east, and past the pinkish-flowered Rosa rugosa previously noted on the upper 'shore' below the sea wall, I spotted a white-flowered specimen in the same habitat, though with only one bloom that was by now 'going over'.
In Erith, Annual Nettle (Urtica urens) was still present along the fence line around the former Riverside Swimming Baths site.
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