This is the mouth of the River Lea where it joins the Thames in East London. I intend to walk the length of it in several sections from here back to its source in the chalk hills of the Chilterns (about 42 miles/68 km in total).
 I began this undertaking by walking from my home in New Cross Gate to Greenwich. There I crossed under the Thames using the foot tunnel then skirted round the Isle of Dogs to Leamouth, also known as Bow Creek.

  

 The buds are budding. The wheel of the year turns.

 The Snowdrops are well on their way; the garden is filled with flowers once more.

 I sometimes refer to "native" and "naturalised" plants in this diary. Last week I posted a number of entries concerning various plants I saw within about a mile or so of each other in Hertfordshire.
 The first plant I noted (above) was Lords and Ladies aka Cuckoo Pint (Arum maculatum) which is native- a truly wild flower of woods, hedgerows and shady places.

 Common Gorse (Ulex europeus) is native. Grows wild, sometimes cultivated for various purposes e.g. for hedging and landscaping.

 Winter Heliotrope (Petasites fragrans). Non-native, a naturalised garden escape of North African/Mediterranean origins. Richard Mabey states in 'Flora Britanica' that it was introduced to the UK in 1806 though he doesn't mention his source for this date.

 The Common Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) might be native, might be an introduction. There is a plausible theory that it came to these shores in Norman times when planted in monastic grounds as a symbol of purity coinciding with Candlemas. Certainly various Galanthus species have been grown in gardens across the ages and will have spread.
 Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) is undoubtedly an introduction being of southern European climes but it has naturalised here and there in the UK.

 Stinking Hellebore (Helleborus foetidus). Native but also cultivated as a garden plant; so it can occur as both an indigenous wild thing and a naturalised escape.

 "Native" plants are generally considered to be those that existed here after the ice age ended (about 11,700 years ago) and before rising sea levels separated the land mass from the continent (around 8,500 years ago). It's a fascinating history but then again does it alter my appreciation of Snowdrops if they were here ten thousand years ago or only a thousand?
 It becomes contentious I suppose in the case of more recent arrivals. We no longer take the Victorian view that Japanese Knotweed is suitable for the shrubbery. We generally like Buddleia but sometimes regard its invasiveness as a problem. The jury is out on a plant like Himalayan Balsam which may or may not be a threat to native habitats, ecologists differ on that point.
 Anyway, even a short walk in the countryside makes it evident that the flora of Britain has been millennia in the making.

 Common Gorse (Ulex europeus) is a tough shrub of rough places. It flowers early and flowers long- from late winter through to midsummer.

 Here is some good wholesome stuff: alpaca dung. My father purchased eight sacks of it from a lady on a market stall who keeps a small herd of them. Too much muck too fresh can have an adverse effect on the soil so I let it sit in the bags for a number of weeks (it doesn't smell!). Then I've been spreading it thinly on the allotment as a winter mulch.
 It takes the form of pellets (rather like sheeps' droppings) which seem to take weeks and weeks to decompose. That's a good thing because the nutrients will filter into the soil slowly. I have high hopes for the efficacy of free range organic alpaca poo... 

 Walking alongside a stretch of woodland in Hertfordshire my eye was drawn to an almost luminous green among the deep browns of the leaf litter. This fine stand of Stinking Hellebore (Helleborus foetidus) was coming into flower.
 Woods and scrub on calcerous soil are the characteristic habitat of H. foetidus (as is the case here) though I don't recall seeing any in this particular locale before.

 The term "trench composting" pretty much says what it does. Dig a trench, shovel in some kitchen compost in varying stages of decomposition, fill in the trench then let the soil digest it for a few months. This method suits crops that like to root into rich, moist earth e.g. broad beans and runner beans.
 There's a lot to be said for the "no dig" approach i.e. building soil structure and fertility by regular mulching. In the case of this bed I had already dug it over thoroughly to remove a considerable amount of couch grass. Even Charles Dowding the guru of no dig advocates removing couch grass before instituting a no dig approach. So some trench composting seemed in order to get things underway.

Rosehips and Gorse. Winter colour on a grey day.

 I have mixed feelings about Winter Heliotrope (Petasites fragrans) which was probably introduced to the UK as a garden plant. It originates in North Africa and/or the Mediterranean depending which reference book you read. It's clearly very hardy, spreads rampantly by rhizomes, is semi-evergreen and flowers early.
 Invasive plants have their merits but the flowering is usually rather sparse and there are plenty of other ground cover plants I would favour for their foliage. It's certainly persistent; any piece of rhizome in the soil will sprout anew and multiply. Thus Winter Heliotrope has become a widespread garden escape, I see patches of it all over the place. 
 I should note however that the flowers do have a deliciously fresh scent of vanilla and chopped almonds!

 [Postscript. Despite my mixed feelings I would also add that this colony of P. fragrans has somewhat modified my view of its habits. It is flowerier here than when I have seen it elsewhere and the leaves bigger and healthier. Perhaps this spot suits it although it is said to be a plant of damp shady environs.]  

 Spring come early is likely to be a theme of the diary in the weeks ahead. Walking through a village in Hertfordshire yesterday I saw this flowery bank of Snowdrops and Winter Aconites.
 Actually I've written about this spot before. Galanthus species and Eranthis hyemalis are early bloomers but I note that my entry from 2017 is dated 17th. February, a full month further into the year. 

 I saw a good many Lords and Ladies (Arum maculatum) unfurling their lush green leaves from the leaf litter along a tree lined path while walking in Hertfordshire today.

 Reasons to be cheerful. Last autumn I planted some bulbs around the base of one of the street trees near my front gate- a small act of gorilla gardening. As I left the house on this dark grey morning I was delighted to see a couple of dainty Winter Aconites (Eranthis hyemalis) unfolding from the soil with their ruffs of bright green leaves topped by gleaming yellow flowers.

 Primroses are already in flower at the South London Botanical Institute. The Common Primrose (Primula vulgaris) flowers early in the year but these are weeks ahead like the Snowdrops I mentioned in my last entry.

 The flowers are starting to form already on the drift of Snowdrops at the end of the garden. This is several weeks earlier than usual. We've had a very wet winter which is good for a species like Galanthus and here in London it's been chilly but there have been no frosts to speak of. So spring may come early this year unless we have a cold snap.

"The force that through the green fuse drives the flower"
 

Dylan Thomas
 

  Stinking Hellebore (Hellebore foetidus) coming into bud. It's surprising in a way that not many plants have naturally occurring green flowers but this is one of the few that does. H. foetidus grows wild here and there in the UK but it's also planted in gardens, mine are from cultivated stock. 

 It's usually the first thing in the garden to flower; that will probably be the case this year though the stems of the Snowdrops are already pushing through and showing the merest flash of white at the tips.

 Time and tide, North Kent coast.