A sixteen-year-old’s birthday is not the obvious occasion for botanizing, but the celebration a week ago started with a family feast on the edge of a meadow in East Sussex. After what I thought was a decent amount of chatting, I drifted subtly across to the long grass. There were beautiful candy-pink flowers of Grass Vetchling everywhere I looked, and I was joined by some of the gardeners in the party, curious to see what the cause of my “ooos” were.
I used to find the pea family really difficult but after a concerted effort I’ve definitely got better at identifying them. In the case of the Vetchling, I remembered it from Harrap’s brilliant photo guide I’ve been learning from.
And it just proved the point that wildflower hunting is a pastime you rarely have to stop.
