The Thames is sketched in greyscale this morning. At Blackfriars Bridge, the low-tide rocks and gunge whiff of hydrogen sulphide and even the fairground paint of Southwark Bridge is muted. Despite the gloomy prospect I’m on a mission to find colour. Today, the first one of the year, is special for botanists. All over the […]

We’re proud of ourselves setting off in the tail-end of Storm Bella, and in very little time we are soaked but jogging just fast enough to keep warm. It’s crunchy under foot again, not from leaves this time but all the lichen daubed twigs decorating the pavements. On our way back we cut through the […]

I really do love trees but seeing that the forecast for Thursday was spectacularly good on the coast, the thought of seeing some colour was more than I could resist. Following the advice from a friendly Sussex botanist I set off east from Brighton pier and tracked the top of the chalk cliffs as far […]

The landscape of Kipling’s “whale-backed” South Downs causes mixed emotions. On the one hand there’s the relief of rolling green hills after weeks of walking the London suburbs. On the other hand, the vast featureless flinty fields are a depressing reminder of the desperate and precarious state of British farming. A state that’s likely to […]

I’ve been distracting myself from short gloomy days with trees. Today I go back to visit my favourite tree in Gipsy Hill, this Foxglove-tree, Paulownia tormentosa. Why do I care about this tree? Well, it’s next to an Indian Bean Tree, Catalpa bignonioides, and both the London Tree Map (https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/environment/parks-green-spaces-and-biodiversity/trees-and-woodlands/london-tree-map) and the Tree Talk map […]

Today I’ve treated myself to a visit to Kew Gardens and I’m exploring the plants and a variety of weeds round the evolution garden despite the unremitting drizzle. The delicate pale pink and crimson flower spike of a fumitory catches my eye in a corner of rough grass and I inwardly groan. The difficulties of […]

Breathe deeply, all quiet, big open space, sun-brushed reeds. Well almost quiet, if I ignore the high speed trains belting past and the clanging of a bulldozer echoing across the estuary. The volunteer on the gate of Rainham marshes reserve was apologetic about the one way system in operation but it means I barely see […]

It’s almost impossible to ignore trees at this time of year, not that you’d want to I imagine. But as well as enjoying the autumn colour, I’m taking time to notice the unfamiliar trees in the estate where I live and in our local park. I’ve walked past this one just behind our house almost […]