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).
12 comments:
A wonderful walk through beautiful nature, and how many interesting plants did you see along the way!
Isn't it a wonderful time of year. We were saying on our walk today, yellows have gone and it's the white time. Cow Parsley, Horse Chestnut flowers and May blossom, the hedgerows and fields around here are full of cow parsley, one of my favourites too. Also the Wild Garlic, I can imagine the scent from your photos, it looks a lovely wood. Hope you had a good weekend and are feeling less tired now:)
Oh, well done indeed! I know it isn't but the flower you asked about bears strong resemblance to the neighbour's dogwood.
This month's plants for WWHM are nettle, hawthorn and cleavers. I ought to do your Wild Plant challenge! Goodness only knows I'm seeing plenty! I think t the Horse Chestnut is particularly good this year, at least here it is. Cow Parsley is one of my favourite plants too, in fact I have a thing about all Umbels.
Be still my heart . . . what a beautiful walk. Thank you for taking the time to take all of these photos and put this gorgeous post together. I truly enjoy it :)
Thank you so much Stara and I am glad you enjoyed the blog post.
Thanks so much Rosie. Yes I agree it is a wonderful time of year. May is probably my favourite month followed by June and October! The countryside looks so lovely at this time of year with all the wild flowers and fresh leaves on the trees. You can smell the Wild Garlic from the car park! Nice relaxing weekend thanks - we came back from Herefordshire yesterday. Thanks re tiredness. Haven't been sleeping well for months although thankfully I got more sleep last night!
Thanks so much Debbie. I agree the flowers on the tree do look a bit like Dogwood - tbh I am not 100 per cent sure it is Whitebeam. If you want to know more about the challenge it is run by the BSBI (Botanical Society of the British Isles) and there are details on their website. I must admit I haven't yet registered as you have to put finds on i-record and they prefer you to have photos for verification purposes and I don't have photos of some plants eg gorse and ox eye daisy! They are doing a series of webinars too which anyone can watch on their you tube channel. I like umbellifers too :)
Thank you so much Connie for visiting my blog and leaving such a lovely comment. I am so pleased you enjoyed the post and photos.
What a beautiful walk. A great addition to the list with that Purple Toothwort. I counted 20 different species (some just leaves yet) on my very short walk yesterday. Trying to encourange myself to go out in a moment, but it keeps raining.
Thanks so much BB. I've never seen Purple Toothwort anywhere but in that location. Hedgerows are full of flowers at the moment. Twenty is a good count in one short walk. We have showers here too.
Oh your woodland walk looks lovely! So nice to see a few bluebells in amongst the wild garlic too. You did well with the wild plant list although it will probably get harder to do the second half of your hundred. But if you are adding trees that should help. Good luck with it!
Thanks so much Mandy. I agree second half may be harder but adding trees might help and we are off to the Isle of Wight for a summer holiday so hoping that will add some coastal species. I've also identified the two grasses/sedges from Brueton Park - Meadow Foxtail and Pendulous Sedge (I think!!) so that is two more added.
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