Botanists at work

The day was spent out botanising with the South Lincolnshire Flora Group. In the morning we did a surprisingly rewarding circuit of Nocton village, while in the heat of the afternoon we decamped to Potterhanworth Wood, an ancient woodland SSSI which has been historically well recorded. Despite this, we still added twenty-two species to the tetrad total, and re-found quite a few species that hadn't been recorded for many years, such as Wood Melick, last seen in 1955!

We finished in the late afternoon, and I then went on to visit my eldest half-sister and her husband in Heighington . We hadn't seen each other for over thirty years, although we have been in touch on Facebook over the last year or so, but the conversation was easy and we found that we had an awful lot in common! I was plied with tea and her delicious lavender and raspberry sponge cake, and had a tour round her beautiful garden. I'd only intended staying for a couple of hours, but time slipped by and I ended up leaving almost four hours later, having learnt a great deal about my wider family. We've both resolved to keep in touch, and hopefully I'll drop in again when I'm next botanising in the area.

I drove home in the dark, but there was very little other traffic about so it was an easy journey. I arrived back about 9.30pm, and then sat down to a delicious dinner cooked by Pete. In my absence Chris and Lizzy had returned home from Bulgaria, but all the younger generation had gone out again with friends, so I was able to relax after a very interesting day.