Water Avens

Pete and I travelled up to Heighington to have lunch with my sister and her husband. We were promised a light lunch which turned out to be a delicious home made quiche flavoured with fennel, new potatoes and salad, followed by chocolate cake! It was lovely to spend time with them both and to stroll round their delightful garden, a true labour of love with a raised bed filled with blowsy tulips in pastel shades, winding paths among interesting tree, shrubs and perennials, and a productive vegetable garden and greenhouse. V has incredibly green fingers and we went away with a whole selection of heritage tomato plants.

Her husband is in the later stages of cancer and while he had an afternoon sleep, Pete and I went to explore the village, which had very few recent plant records. It was delightful, with a clear-watered beck forming a wildlife artery through the mostly limestone buildings. We ended up recording 168 species including a few plants of Corn Gromwell, an endangered arable weed, growing in the gravel of an electricity sub-station compound.

On our way home we dropped into nearby Potterhanworth Wood, which is located adjacent to the Car Dyke right on the edge of the fen. There was the usual range of spring flowers, including some impressive sweeps of Bluebell, but I was most entranced by the abundance of Water Avens in the ride-side ditches. This species is quite frequent in Lincolnshire woodlands but doesn't really grow round Peterborough, so it's always a pleasure to see it.