Fumitories

Despite a rather grim weather forecast I needed to make a visit to an arable field in Suffolk to check for the presence of rare arable weeds. After careful examination of the Met Office radar I estimated I had a reasonable chance of dry weather for about three hours in the morning. 

It was dry and very overcast when I arrived, and stayed much the same for the whole of my survey, with just a couple of spells of light rain. I found a few plants of my main target species, Fine-leaved Fumitory, within a few minuted of arriving, but then went on to find a huge population of this rare species with tiny white and purple flowers growing among its close relative Common Fumitory, which has pinkish-purple flowers. Fumitories are named for their greyish-green foliage which can look like clouds of smoke rolling across the fields when it grows in such abundance.

The forecast had been accurate so far as it went, but I drove home through warm sunshine - even though the afternoon was supposed to be wetter! The journey back was rather longer than expected thanks to a road closure and changes to the road system which meant I had to travel right though the centre of Huntingdon.