Last week D and I went for a walk at Brueton Park LNR where the woodland is always full of wild garlic at this time of year. It is a walk we both enjoy and we try and visit most years in May. I was also hoping we could add some species to the 2026 Wild Plant Challenge!
Horse Chestnut was flowering in the car park.
Buttercups were flowering in the grassland - I think the species we saw is Creeping Buttercup. There are four different types of buttercups - Creeping, Meadow, Bulbous and Goldilocks.
Cow Parsley was flowering - I think it is one of my favourite plants.
The plant in the centre of the photo by the railings is Cleavers.
The first Wild Garlic flowers - last year the flowers were past their best when we visited but this year they were just perfect.
Comma butterfly - we also saw Speckled Wood and Holly Blue.
A grass to try and identify! We have been in Herefordshire so I haven't had chance yet but my grass/sedge/rush id skills are not very good!
I puzzled over the id of this tree for ages but I am pretty sure now it is a Whitebeam. If anyone thinks differently please let me know.
A Beautiful Demoiselle - we also saw Small Red Damselflies.
We finally reached the public footpath that enters the Wild Garlic Wood. The path follows the River Blythe which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
Brueton Park can get very busy but we rarely see anyone along the walk by the Blythe. This time we saw just one person at the beginning of the walk.
Wild Garlic just carpeted the ground. Wild Garlic (Allium ursinum) has several country/local names such as Ramsons, Buckrams, Broad-leaved Garlic, Bear Lee, Bear's Garlic, Gipsy's Onion and Stinking Jenny.
Purple Toothwort growing on its usual fallen tree trunk. It is a parasitic plant that has naturalised in Britain.
Another grass to try and identify!
Great Reedmace also sometimes called Bulrush.
Germander Speedwell - my grandfather used to call this Bird's Eye Speedwell.
Yellow Archangel an indicator of ancient woodland. This year there were far more plants than we usually see.
I think this is Ground Ivy.
I let David use the camera as we returned as his camera battery ran out as we arrived. Normally we do a longer walk across a meadow and then into another wood but to be honest I had hardly slept the night before and I was just too tired.
Horse Chestnut "candle". The stamens on flowers of Horse Chestnut, like Hawthorn and Forget Me Not, change colour when they have been pollinated although, in the case of Chestnut, it can be a sign of age.
Once back in the main park we walked back to the car park via the pool.
And I was glad we did because we added four more species of plant.
Cuckoo Flower or Lady's Smock
Marsh Marigold
Yellow Flag
Rowan
I was horrified to see a dog off a lead chase this poor Canada Goose :(
Edith Holden of "Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady" fame often used to follow the River Blythe from Widney which is very close to where we normally walk to. So when I do this walk I often think of her wandering along the Blythe and the plants she recorded seeing.
We stopped off at the shop in Hampton in Arden to buy a drink. Here is the churchyard cat at St Mary and St Bartholomew!
We added another species on the way home - Oxeye Daisies on the grass verge. Sadly, no photo.
So we added the following species to the "2026 Wild Plant Challenge"
- Creeping Buttercup
- Wild Garlic
- Foget-me-Not
- Cleavers
- Purple Toothwort
- Yellow Archangel
- Wood Avens
- Yellow Flag
- Marsh Marigold
- Cuckoo Flower/Lady's Smock
- Ground Ivy
- Whitebeam
- Rowan
- Ox-Eye Daisy
All photos taken by me or D with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera. (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one of mine or my son's I would be grateful for an email first - thanks).
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