A few weeks ago we visited Barking Riverside, a site that I had worked on for Dave Clark before moving to Yorkshire. As it happens, we chose a great time to visit: it was 3.30pm on a Friday afternoon, and the newly opened George Carey Primary School finished for the day, with hundreds of children and parents leaving for the weekend.
Speed of Shadow
Tollesbury Wick
Earlier this summer I returned to Tollesbury for the wedding of two old friends- it was a magical weekend, seeing people I’d long lost touch with and walking again through the marshes. For any who are interested in botany, birding, naturalism generally or indeed just like long walks, I can’t recommend Tollesbury Wick highly enough- just check out these satellite images. The marshes are fascinating at any time of year and when I lived here, I’d happily spend an afternoon watching the subtle changes in colour (and temperature) and the rise and fall of the tide. Happily, the wedding coincided with the flowering of perhaps my favourite marsh plant, Common Sea-Lavender.
Anisodontea capensis El Royo
2m tall, flowering for 6 months straight in a north-facing garden on thin Yorkshire Wolds chalk and unquestionably the finest plant I grow: Anisodontea capensis El Royo.
