puddleshark

Another day of bright sunshine. Followed the underhill path, through the shadow and the light, in places ducking under briars and brambles, in places brushing cautiously through the stinging nettles. The grass is tall, the dog roses are in flower, and the yellowhammers are singing a-little-bit-of-bread-and-no-cheese.

Lying in wait...

Cricket nymph.

Hedge Woundwort (Stachys sylvatica), much loved by Common Carder Bees.

One of the Sow-thistles, not sure which.

One of the Hawksbeards.

I had hoped to photograph the lovely smokey seedheads of Goatsbeard, in amongst the grass, as I do every year. But further along the hill, where the Goatsbeard usually grows, the cattle had been out grazing. It's bad management both from a wild flower and a butterfly conservation point of view. Livestock should not be on the underhill at this time of year. The cattle have eaten or trampled all the Goatsbeard, and all the Knapweed and Field Scabious that the Skipper butterflies and the Marbled Whites normally nectar on.

But coming back along the hilltop, there was compensation for the lack of flowers along the underhill: Pyramidal Orchids everywhere.