New Year Plant Hunts - Cornwall, January 2026

 Each year, across a set of days around New Year, botanists of all ages and abilities set out to record which wild plants they can find in bloom. You can read all about them here - https://bsbi.org/take-part/activities/new-year-plant-hunt You can record flowers found in a group or solo anywhere in the UK and Ireland.

Cornwall had several plant hunts and this is a summary of those I attended. 

 

1st January 2026 - Mevagissey

This was organised by the Three Bays Wildlife Group and starts off in a town car park, circles the town, down to the harbour and then up towards Portmellon and some arable fields. As a group we found 83 species of plants in flower in the wild. Here a few of them.

 

Hybrid Pansy - Viola x contempta

Field Pansy - Viola arvensis

Intermediate Periwinkle - Vinca difformis

 

Hedge Hebe (widelt naturalised) - Veronica x franciscana 

Hedge Woundwort - Stachys sylvatica

Red Campion- Silene dioica

Field Madder - Sherardia arvensis

Pink-headed Persicaria - Persicaria capitata

Pellitory of the Wall - Parietaria judaica

Wood Forget-me-not - Myosotis sylvatica

Lovely views on the walk.

Musk Mallow - Malva moschata

Atlantic Ivy - Hedera hibernica

Wild Fennel - Foeniculum vulgare

Ivy-leaved Toadflax - Cymbalaria muralis

Danish Scurvygrass - Cochlearia danica

Red Valerian - Centranthus ruber

Thrift - Armeria maritima

2nd January 2026 - Rock and Porthilly

 

There was a group meeting at Hayle which recorded a massive 86 species in flower, however, I couldn't attend. As such, I did a short solo walk in the afternoon at Rock, where I found 39 species in flower.

 

Guernsey Fleabane - Erigeron sumatrensis

Herb Robert - Geranium robertianum

A strange find of an Algerian Iris on a road verge (new to VC2, East Cornwall) - Iris unguicularis

Sweet Alison (alyssum) - Lobularia maritimum

Winter Heliotrope - Petasites pyrenaicus

Sea Mayweed - Tripleurospermum maritimum

Sweet Violet - Viola odorata var. praecox

3rd January 2026 - Seaton to Downderry

A group hunt this time where we found 54 species in flower.

 

Ivy-leaved Speedwell - Veronica hederifolia subsp lucorum  

Sea Campion - Silene uniflora

Rosemary, naturalised on a cliff - Rosmarinus officinalis

An Osteospermum - Osteospermum "Tresco Purple" on a wall.

A garden escaped Bloody Cranesbill on a cliff - Geranium sanguineum

One of many atypical White Ramping Fumitories - Fumaria capreolata subsp babingtonii

Wild Strawberry - Fragaria vesca

A garden escaped Wallflower - Erysimum cheiri

Sea Carrot - Daucus carota subsp gummifer

An invasive Hottentot Fig on a cliff - Carpobrotus edulis

A self seeded Pot Marigold on a kerb - Calendula officinalis

An out of season alien grass, frequent on pavements here, Greater Quaking Grass - Briza maxima

The invasive Three Cornered Leek - Allium triquetrum

4th January 2026 - Padstow and Egloshayle

There was another group hunt at Par Sands where they found 62 species in flower, but again I couldn't make it, so I had an hour or so in Padstow where I found 18 species and another hour locally where I found  34 species flowering. Unfortunately, I only had my phone, so the photos aren't that good. Here's a small selection.

Greater Periwinkle (naturalised) - Vinca major

A surprise Rough Chervil - Chaerophyllum temulum

A scruffy Lesser Celandine - Ficaria verna

Creeping Comfrey (naturalised) - Symphytum grandiflorum

A Black Medick on a road verge - Medicago lupulina

Bulbous Buttercup - Ranunculus bulbosus

Common Knapweed - Centaurea nigra

Yarrow - Achillea millefolium

That rounds up the New Year Plant Hunts I attended in Cornwall. It goes to show that even in winter and in this case, in bitterly cold weather, there are still plenty of flowers to see. There's lots more if you included garden plants in gardens of course! I hope you all have a great new year.

Regards Dave