A Botanical Journey mostly from Kent & SE England

A visit to South Stack on Holy Island is a must when on Anglesey. It's a beautiful area with dramatic scenery and views. This is the view South East from above the RSPB car park with Snowdonia in the far distance. In botany, the area is famous for South Stack Fleawort, only found here in the whole world. However, I  might be too late to find any flowering now. We arrived in the morning to give us time to also look for Spotted Rockrose, the County flower of Anglesey. So we parked in the car park and headed off up the coastal cliff path to see what we could find. The whole area was dotted with wildflowers but Sheep's Bit caught my eye. Being blue it stands out from the usual yellows and it would also be a great find in Kent where its rare. However, in the West of Britain it is a common plant. I do like them though. Jasione montana I started scouring the cliff edge areas (being sensible about it though) for the Fleawort. Again, the views were fantastic, this time dow

From Cors Bodeillio we headed North on a casual exploration of this part of the coastline. It was very nice seeing a multitude of wildflowers along many verges of country lanes, including orchids, unlike the mostly mowed verges of Kent. We stopped in one area and I had a short walk around the road verge. This is what I found in a very small area. This area had around 50 or more Common Spotted Orchids along the verge. Of course it was raining again. Dactylorhiza fucshii Not far away was a nice display of Bell Heather, turning the area purple. Erica cineria Imitating an orchid from a distance were some Marsh Woundwort in a wet ditch by the roadside. Stachys palustris Near the hedgeline was a Tutsan, a shrubby species of St. John's Wort. Hypericum androsaemum Meadowsweet was in abundance in the roadside ditches. Some areas had as much Meadowsweet along the road as we have Cow Parsle

We spent a week on holiday in a lovely cottage near Penmon in Anglesey in the last week of June. It's the first proper holiday we've had in 10 years so we were really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, I came down ill just before leaving with a heart problem. However, despite making life difficult I was determined to make the best I could of the holiday. After a long drive from Kent we arrived and after unpacking had a look around. This view was nearby from a local beach. The headland in the background is the Great Orme, a venue I was also keen to visit during our stay. Of course, even with great views I had a look at plants growing along the beach. I found a Common Spotted Orchid flowering up a steep slope but couldn't get to it for a photograph. I also found Sea Aster, quite common in North Kent, but took a photo anyway.  I'm glad I did as I later found it was a new record for this area. Aster tripolium var tripolium  The photo wasn't t