Prickly Poppy

I set off in the cool of the morning for a day's botanising in some under-worked parts of the vice-county north-west of Sleaford. My first stop was the village of Cranwell (having driven swiftly through the RAF college whose grounds seemed far too orderly to hold any botanical jewels). This is one of the more intensively arable parts of the county, but has limestone soils, and there were still fragments of species-rich grassland with an abundance of Field Scabious along the green lane and footpaths that I walked. 

However, the arable field margins at the top of the hill were the richest hunting ground, with smoky clouds of Common Fumitory, sprawling masses of Round-leaved Fluellen and five plants of Prickly Poppy, a species that was once widespread in south-east England, but is now considered to be endangered in England. It's only the second time I've found it, the first being almost thirty years ago. The small orange-red flowers are very distinctive, and only last a day. In fact in hot weather, the petals seem to drop by lunchtime, so one to get up early for!

By the time I returned to the car at about midday, it was really very hot and steamy, but I felt I couldn't give up and went for a walk around a contrasting area of sheep-grazed grassland and woodland. Initially it didn't seem as interesting, but on a very ordinary wayside I found a couple of plants of Good-King-Henry, another rare species that's now considered to be Vulnerable in the UK, and one I'd never seen before.It is an archaeophyte, present in Roman times and once grown for its edible leaves - one of its vernacular names is Lincolnshire Spinach!  It often grows in scruffy areas and has declined enormously, possibly as a result of the general tidying of ruderal vegetation.

I arrived home about half-past three, pretty exhausted after walking nearly 11km in the heat. Fortunately Pete had cooked a delicious meal - I' so lucky!