Sweet Chestnuts

The lovely Hawley chestnuts will soon be ready to roast! Come and join me in a feast.

Wall Lizard

The wall lizard has been introduced into several sites in Surrey and Hampshire. It does not appear to be doing any harm though some scientists advocate it's destruction. I doubt that is possible as large populations already exist. They are really very CUTE!

Yellow Horned Sea Poppy

What a marvellous plant. Sadly it is vanishing as well as more and more people flock to the shingle beaches of the South Coast of England and destroy the plant in their haste to get to the sea.

Marsh Gentians

These are one of our rarest and fastest declining plants. They are also one of our most beautiful. In North Hampshire, they are very rare indeed and fast vanishing. See them while you can and breathe in the beauty of their scent and feast your eyes on the ethereal blue of the sky they hold within their petals.

English ( Early) Gentians in comparison

These tiny, beautiful gentians grow in the driest of conditions and are endemic to England where they are found in Dorset and a few other places. Once thought to be a form of the autumn gentian they have now been separated on genetic grounds. Having seen both species, these seem to have a different habitat preference to the autumn gentians which grow in taller damper grass, rather than on hard baked coastal gullies.

Perfection!

This is the perfect plant, growing in profusion on the old hill.

Another Autumn Gentian

These are the essence of beauty at Coombe Hill.