I hummed and hawed for quite a while before I decided it was legitimate to drive the 30 mins south to Hutchinson’s Bank in Croydon. I knew it would be a long shot but I was hoping to find something in flower on these chalky slopes and to practice my skills at identifying plants at the vegetative stage – just a posh way of saying recognising leaves.

Picking my way carefully along the sticky track I was rewarded by this Sweet Violet (distinguished from Hairy and Dog Violets by it’s rounded rather than pointed sepals) before I settled down for some serious leaf identification.

Dipping into Three Corner Wood, I found spikes of Dog’s Mercury in flower with the teeth on the leaf margins much tighter and neater than those on it’s city cousin, Annual Mercury.

So great to be back in one of my favourite botanising places, and on top of that I was treated to a Red Kite, Sparrowhawk and a Kestrel in quick succession.