Englandshire

I finally arrived outside The Ghost's haunted castle at half five in the morning. I pinged him a quick text: I'm outside. Be a good chap and let me in when you get this. Then I wrapped myself up in my sleeping bag and fell fast asleep. I awoke, marginally refreshed, at eight o'clock and decided to wake him up with a call (I was cold and needed a wee). Five minutes later the door opened and Ghostie welcomed me into his home. Aah, tis good to be back with me ol' buddy again.  

Despite a severe lack of sleep, I was keen for us to get out and find some plants. I had gen for Japanese Wineberry, an alien bramble that is invading an area of ancient woodland just a few miles away. We headed off, Ghostie being keen to point out the masses of Mistletoe in almost every large tree we passed. Not sure how I never really noticed it before, but there certainly is an awful lot of it around South Hampshire!

We arrived at Dundridge Woods, parked outside someone's garden and headed into the trees. I was happy as a dog with two dicks, leaping around from yeartick to yeartick like a numpty. "Oooh, Dog's Mercury! Oh wow, look at all this Butcher's Broom! Oh hey look, is this a Yew??" etc etc. Ghostie gave a small shake of his head, heaved a weary sigh and doubtless wondered why he'd ever agreed to put me up for the next ten days or so. 

Butcher's-broom Ruscus aculeatus - it's a really smart little plant!

There were loads of Leylandii seedlings growing throughout the woodland. Ghostie asked if I was certain that's what they were. "Of course, just look at them. What else could it be? Just a load of leyandii, innit?" I replied. "I'm not good with conifers, but I thought they looked a bit like Western Red Cedar" he answered. Just to shut him up, I took a bit to key through. 

"Just a load of leylandii innit..."

Later that evening I keyed the frond of leylandii. I used Stace 4, Poland's Veg Key and numerous online sites, plus a generalist tree book I'd packed. No doubt about it, it was definitely Western Red Cedar, damnit!! Thankfully Ghostie isn't the type to gloat or rub one's face in it. No, he's far too polite for that. Unless it's me, in which case he's utterly merciless. How did he know what bloody Western Red Cedar looked like??

But anyway, before this we were still in the woods finding various other plants for me to get excited over, plants such as Traveller's Joy, Spindle, Wood Spurge and Elm-leaved Bramble. Then we found our target plant, a dark-stemmed, viciously prickled beast of a bramble. No mistaking that thing, I thought to myself. I waded in for pics and was soon hooked up in prickles

Vicious beast, my leg was covered in blood by the time I extracted myself from the patch

The dark stem, wickedly sharp prickles of two sizes combined with the extra long petiole of the terminal leaflet all created a pretty distinctive look, though we both had a nagging feeling that the pictures of Japanese Wineberry that we'd seen on the internet seemed to show an even denser armature than this thing had. A few minutes later, on a different track through the trees, we stumbled across the real deal. Take two, as they'd say in the film industry...

Will the real Japanese Wineberry please stand up....

There's no mistaking the real thing when you have it curving across the path at face level, ready to garotte the unwary. I still don't know what the first bramble was, clearly not the wineberry. Hopefully I'll be able to figure it out from the images I took. Looking at the Japanese Wineberry I had to wonder how badly it would hurt if you fell into a thicket of it. As Ghostie put it, "What I can't unerstand is why someone would even WANT to grow that thing!" 

Possibly the largest clump of Spurge-Laurel Daphne laureola I've ever seen!

We quit the woods before falling foul of any more brambles and headed south towards the coast. A quick stop at a stretch of river added Wilson's Honeysuckle to the list

Wilson's Honeysuckle Lonicera nitida - similar to, though taller than, Box-leaved Honysuckle

We arrived at Warblington to find nine Cattle Egrets and a Little Egret in a roadside field. I'm still shocked at how well they've colonised parts of Britain in the short time I've been living on Skye. Warblington also has coastline and we made our way through fields until we reached the seawall, whereupon we clambered down onto the exposed beach. It's a nice spot, one I've not visited before. 

I'd asked Ali to show me Hard Rush Juncus inflexus whilst I was in Fife. It's a plant that doesn't occur on Skye and I was keen to reacquaint myself with it. He pointed out an area full of Hard Rush and showed me the ridged stems and long bract. Ghostie also showed me Hard Rush, pointing out the chambered pith, amongst other things. I'm now up to speed on Hard Rush characteristics and am ready to find my own elsewhere.

Ridged stem and chambered pith - very unlike the Soft Rush that is so common across Skye

Sea Purslane Atriplex portulacoides - a common plant at the top of the beach

Common Cord-grass Spartina anglicus halfway down the beach

Tamarisk Tamarix gallica bushes growing above the high water mark

We cut back inland via some more fields, finding a few notable arable weeds near the edges.

Scarlet Pimpernel Anagallis arvensis

Sharp-leaved Fluellen Kickxia elatine

Red Dead-nettle Lamium purpureum

Field Woundwort Stachys arvensis

Field Madder Sherardia arvensis

Back near the car, I tried very hard to string this Hairy Bittercress into one of the scarcer Cardamines, but much time with a hand lens and the keys persuaded me that I was chattin' shite (something Ghostie was keen to point out was fast becoming a habit...) Sheesh, it's been a while since I looked at southern plants, gimme a break! 

I spotted a small speedwell growing on top of the church wall and cheekily claimed it must be Wall Speedwell. Ghostie said something along the lines of  'probably a bloody dandelion' and popped it into a pot for later examination. Back indoors he said, "I've keyed that speedwell. It's got fruit and it's under the microscope. Go see what you make it". I keyed it to Grey Field-speedwell, which seemed highly unlikely. "I make it Grey Field, what about you?" Surprisingly Ghostie had also made it Grey Field (and that was using a different key). 

Grey Field-speedwell Veronica polita - microscope pics only

"Oh cool, that's another lifer for me" I casually mentioned. Ghostie promptly spewed his chocolate bar across his laptop screen, "A lifer?!?! How the hell is Grey Field-speedwell a lifer for you, you low-listing scummer?!?!" he squeaked in shocked disbelief. Ok, so I have a few glaring gaps in my British plant list. Arable weeds are few and far between in South London and Skye, the two places I've spent most of my adult life. Anyway, the best kind of lifer is one that he's already seen. I'm definitely reeling him in, bit by bit. I still reckon my plant list will overtake his before the year is out. Fighting talk? Hell yeah it is! 

Tomorrow we were hitting Hayling Island where, as I would soon discover, fighting talk is a way of life....

At around half midnight I stated that I was tired and headed to bed. I'd been driving until 5:30 in the morning, awake again by 8am and on the go ever since. Sleep came very easily, I think I slept through for over nine glorious hours :)