Wildflower diary
Primroses (Primula vulgaris)
Spring 2025
There was an unusually long run of gloomy days during the depths of winter, and not many flowers to be seen, although with a bit of searching we did find 15 different species in sheltered spots during our New Year Plant Hunt. A bit later in the year the snowdrops were lovely for a while, our wonderful Crocus tommassinianus put on a brief display when the sun appeared occasionally, and if you looked hard you could find flowers of Cyclamen coum peeking out from the leaf litter on Spring Cottage Green.
Crocus tommassinianus revelling in a burst of February sunshine
Drifts of snowdrops on Lords Hill Common
Cyclamen coum, another welcome sight in February
And then suddenly spring arrived with a bang! March 2025 was a record-breaking month for sunshine in England, including Surrey. The month saw a record 185.8 hours of sunshine, significantly more than the previous record of 171.7 hours set in 1929. Spring flowers came out in abundance and the SGEG crew were out flower spotting again!
Here are some of our finds:​
Forget-me-not (Myosotis sylvatica) with its distinctive whorls of sky blue flowers
Sweet violets in profusion everywhere!
(Viola odora)
Lots of the white variety of sweet violets (Viola odora)
near the Bricklayers Pond
Cowslips are increasing on Malt House Green (Primula veris)
Snake's head fritillaries planted on Lords Hill Common are now doing really well
(Fritillaria meleagris)
Yellow Archangel (Lamium galeobdolon) in a shady woodland spot
Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens) with intense blue flowers loved by bees
Our first bluebells spotted on Blackheath 2nd April 2025
(Hyacinthoides
non-scripta)
A very early bush vetch, more commonly seen later in the summer
(Vicia sepium)
The wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa)
a delicate shade-loving plant
Some plants have been particularly amazing this Spring. Daffodils everywhere seemed to have lots more flowers than usual (we think they actually benefitted from last year's disappointing summer), the flowering cherry on the Cricket Green burst into spectacular flower at the end of March for a few days, and in early April the gorse on Blackheath had an unusual peak of flowering, filling the warm air with its coconut scent.
Bright yellow gorse flowers (Ulex europaeus) filling the air with coconut scent on Blackheath. Later in the year we'll be hearing the popping of thousands of pods as they dry in the summer sun (we hope!)
The flowering cherry on the Cricket Green in glorious full bloom, with glimpses through the branches of a spectacular daffodil display !
March 27th, 2025
