Lockdown Lifts, Plant Hunting Continues!

July 9th  Waterloo Park

 

The weather had been playing me around last week. It had been raining most days and last Thursday was no exception. I was making my way to work, opting to walking to the other side of the city and avoiding the bus where it is compulsory to wear a mask. But avoiding the mask isn't the real reason why I walk to work since lockdown began, it also gives me the chance to plant hunt. A good chunk of my plant findings is from these kind of walks.

Dark Mullein

During this particular walk, I made a quick pop in to Waterloo Park where I was told that there was a dark mullein nearby the main gate entrance which I had missed beforehand. It didn't take long until I found it in the spitting rain. Compared to the other mullein surrounding it, this was much smaller and daintier. A mullein on a diet. But what it lacked in size, it gained in attractiveness. The flowers are yellow like the other mulleins, but the anthers are reddish purple. I made a few quick photos with my phone before leaving.

 

July 11th Catton Park

 

I was back at Catton Park hoping to locate the three plants I was looking for during the weekend before. The sand spurrey and the flixweed still eluded me and what's more, the area I was told they were in was mowed down for the most part. However, it wasn't a complete waste of time as I discovered the fig-leaved goosefoot that was the other plant from that trio on my list. It didn't look like it was anything special as it was mostly leaves with barely anything that resembles flowers growing on it.

 

Thankfully, there were a few other more attractive plants in and around the park that I was more than happy to add to my Norwich plant list. First, a couple of stands of centaury with bright pink flowers poking out of the mowed grass in front of the park's lodge building. I was amazed on how they managed to escape the mower. Meanwhile, a walk along the horse paddock outside the park revealed a clump of thyme (I think) and a few fox-and-cubs (a bright orange garden escapee that has now naturalized).

 

July 14th  Cary's Meadow & Whitlingham Broad

 

Dad took me out plant hunting on Tuesday. Our first stop was Cary's Meadow. The orchids from last time were now gone, though I did find one pyramidal orchid. The site may have been lacking in orchids, however, this site was still producing new additions of other kinds of plants. Water mint, apple mint, vervain, ribbed melilot and red bartsia to name a few.

 

We then had a quick walk at some wooded footpath in Trowse, only adding an enchanter's nightshade. After that, we went around Whitlingham Broad. I showed Dad the pyramidal orchid field and the various other plants I found there and the edge of the main broad from my previous visit. On this occasion, I chalked up a few new species such square-stalked St John's-wort, meadow cranesbill, perennial sowthistle (which was like a very tall dandelion type of thing), snowberry and bristly oxtongue (another dandelion like thing but with spiky, hairy leaves). I couldn't find any bur-marigolds or any other things I was told to find, but I guess the car park ticket put pressure on our search as time on it was running out.

 

July 17th  Mousehold Heath

 

I could finally join Will the Mousehold warden to help him with a butterfly survey. During lockdown, he had been doing it by himself due to social distancing regulations. Today, he was confident to have me tag along. The only drawback was that I had to make my own way to and from Mousehold on foot as he couldn't pick me up due to these regulations. I was more used to walking everywhere at this point to really let that bother me.

 

The weather was good and it led to possibly the best survey we've ever recorded at Mousehold. In total, we counted 178 butterflies. This included 35 gatekeepers, 27 meadow browns, 26 large whites, 23 small whites, 10 ringlets, 10 purple hairstreaks, 10 holly blues, 9 small/Essex skippers, 7 speckled woods, 5 green-veined whites, 4 commas, 3 peacocks, 2 red admirals and 2 large skippers.

Purple Hairstreak &Sand Spurrey

I was also delighted to finally tick off sand spurrey off my list. A friend of mine found them a week or so ago nearby a particular oak tree and when I went with him on Saturday, they appeared to have finished flowering. So I completely surprised while doing the butterfly transect with Will that they were in flower once again. Are these extremely tiny flowers always this temperamental?