The English Bluebell is a very special plant found only in woodland in
Britain and Western France.
It has bloomed early this year and in profusion. They lie like smoke across the woodlands of Kent.
This is Kingswood, a new hunting forest created by King John where the North Downs run down to the valley of the River Stour. It is now a 1,500 acre site managed for wood production and as a public park with a craft centre.
This is the first time in a lifetime of living in Southern England that I have seen an adder in the wild. We only have two snakes on the island of Great Britain. The grass snake, which lives in wet areas and is non-poisonous, and the adder. The unusual Easter heat wave brought them out. A young girl was bitten walking in sandels through woodland and had to be treated for a bad reaction but they are mostly harmless.
Kent is full of this at the moment, rape-seed oil crops. The damn stuff is pollinating.
Lovely wildflowers! Makes one re-think Spring basing options...
ReplyDeleteSnakes here are all too often seen. Of the top 10 deadly snakes in the world, 7 of the them live in Oz, including the most most venemous. Then there are the spiders...
Dear MC
ReplyDeleteOz has the most poisonous, dangerous everything!
I don't even want to think about the Dunny spider.
J
Ah, spring in England, glorious!
ReplyDeleteLovely photos and very lucky to see an adder. The nearest I've come was the odd shed skin and one dead one on the Dorset heathlands as a kid!
The bluebells are just coming out in Derbyshire, but then we are a bit further north!
I've only ever seen a adder once, that was in my cousins garden in Chatham when I was a kid, it frightened the life out of us!!
ReplyDelete@ Man-cave - You can keep the snakes and spiders, here in Kent we'll keep the bluebells, adders and even the smelly rape-seed.
I don't like snakes......
ReplyDeleteBut we do have some lovely countryside in the UK
Don't want to seem a smart-arse, but you forgot the smooth snake, our third native species! I've been a long time lurker and really like your blog, but as a lapsed modeller I've not had much to say until now. (Where's the blushing smiley?!!)
ReplyDeleteDear Ethics
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how rarely one sees an adder given that they are supposed to be common, or at least not rare.
J
Dear Ray
ReplyDeleteI have only ever seen a slow worm in my garden in Medway,
J
Dear KP
ReplyDeleteEngland is beautiful!
J
It is! And so is Bonnie Scotland!
ReplyDeleteDear Steve
ReplyDeleteI did not realise that they existed in Kent until you pointed it out! And I am a retired British Museum Zoologist!!!!!
I don't think they are found in the far south western provinces where I spent my childhood.
Not smart arse at all - very interesting - you lurk as much as you like.
many thanks on the info,
John
Dear Ray,
ReplyDeleteIndeed it is. Very different to the rolling gentle hills and moors of southern England. And Glasgow is one of my favourite cities.
John
And i think you forgot the most important! the Black Adder! :)
ReplyDeleteDear Igi,
ReplyDeleteBut I have a cunning plan.....
J