I’m itching for a botanical adventure this morning and set off for Bushy Park in far distant west London. My mission is simple; to soak up some sun and look for rushes and sedges.

Like Richmond Park, Bushy Park is home to free-roaming deer, but as soon as I’m through the entrance I sense they are more docile than the ones I met a couple of weeks ago. Perhaps the stags are simply knackered after weeks of rutting.

Setting off clock-wise round the perimeter, I hit a line of ponds and water-ways which roughly bisect the park from east to west. Unlike Richmond this park is flat and I can see a line of weeping willow trees where I think the water will be before I get there.

Stands of blue-green of Hard Rush line the water’s edge and glossy green Soft Rush spikes are growing in the shallow water. Near a fishing pond I notice a striking tussock of sedge and find a flower spike to photograph. I think this is Spiked Sedge (Carex spicata) with beaked and red-tinged fruit and pointed membranes called ligules where the leaves meet the stem. Later I check that this has been recorded in Bushy Park – it has – and ask my Twitter botanist acquaintances for their views. I’m chuffed when Mick Crawley, plant ecologist and fanatical botanizer, thinks I’m right.

Deep in the bracken I find another sedge, this time with distinctive hairy leaves. I’m pretty sure this has to be Hairy Sedge (Carex hirta) which my guide tells me is common in grassy places.

For my travel-fanatic friends, this probably wouldn’t pass muster, but on a sunny autumn day this is just the kind of adventure I need.