FIFTY YEARS OF FLOWERS

May 2005 saw the 50^th anniversary of my interest in wild flowers, so I resolved to re-visit three local areas where I saw my first plants. In the spring of 1955, Ravenscraig Park in Kirkcaldy was a favourite spot to walk in, and it was during one such stroll that we wondered what the names of three colourful species were: they turned out to be lesser celandine, red campion and wild hyacinth (bluebells). Half a century on, they are still to the fore, particularly the bluebells, of which there are masses in various shades of blue, pink and white. We also found a lot of monkshood and leopardsbane, originally introduced long before they were first recorded about 1850. So the park hadn’t changed much, in contrast to the shore between Kirkcaldy and Kinghorn; although Seafield Pit has gone there are now hundreds of houses with many people about, and in places coarse vegetation such as hemlock, blackthorn and brambles crowd out some of the specialities. Among them was early purple orchid, which my mother had pointed out to me during the 1940s, and which had been fine until about 1990 but then almost disappeared; I was fearful of not finding any so was relieved to come across a solitary spike – perhaps symbolic of all the changes that had taken place.

My third trip was to the Milldam, on the SW edge of Kirkcaldy; here too much was altered, not least the draining of the pond some time ago. However, I was rewarded unexpectedly. The very rare bird’s-nest orchid had been reported in 1992 but subsequently proved elusive, so I was delighted to espy a few stems, unobtrusive in the beech shade. But I was unprepared for the biggest thrill; I’d seen nearby in 1958 a colony of a plant that has the appearance of a giant chickweed, only much more delicate and attractive. On looking across the field to the burn, there was a 300 yards unbroken stretch of white – a very fine show of wood stitchwort, in its only site for miles around. I took a few slides, as I had of the orchid, to remind me of them when I’m not able to go out, and went home happy.

George Ballantyne