Notes on Wild Flowers by the River Thames

3rd June 2017 / Blog /

DURING my walk along the River Thames in the summer of 2016 (the ‘summer of Brexit’), I came across many wild flowers but did not have much of a clue as to what they were. However, I took a few, not very good, pictures and later showed these to the botanist John Fielding, author of the cult book Flowers of Crete, who lives locally to me and knows just about all you need to know about flowers of any description be they in Crete or anywhere else.

He helped identify each one – and in the appendix to my travel book From Source to Sea: Notes from a 215-mile Walk Along the River Thames I list them. My pictures of each wild flower, which I promised to post on this website, are of insufficient quality to capture their characteristics. So here I am providing links to better pictures.

Wild flowers (with a few weeds mixed in) by the River Thames 

• The Great Willowherb
• Himalayan Balsam
• Hollyhock
• Field Bindweed
• Comfrey
• Sweet pea
• Hemp-Agrimony
• Brown Knapweed
• Marjoram
• Woody Nightshade
• Evening Primrose
• Yellow Ragwort
• St John’s Wort