puddleshark

A cold breeze full of floating willow fluff. A heavy dew on the grass. Max and I went walking through the hay meadows.

Prismatic web.

Down by the stream, there are orchids hiding in the long grass and the rushes.

Probably Common Spotted orchids, or a hybrid between Common Spotted and Southern Marsh orchid.

The path through the meadows. Willow Warblers singing. Pipits fluttering from willow branch to willow branch. A herd of Sika does, in their dappled summer coats, went bounding by (unnoticed by Max).

The grass is taller than he is.

Someone's waiting for grasshopper season. Me, too. Though not for the same reason, I hasten to add. Songs, not snacks, in my case.

Ragged Robins in the rushes.

My first Common Blue butterfly of the year.

In the damper meadows, near the stream, only the buttercups, clover, and Yellow Rattle in flower.

Yellow Rattle, a hemiparasite, stealing nourishment from the roots of the grass. It's often planted in wild-flower meadows to weaken grass growth, so that the grass does not out-compete the wild flowers.

Green Hairstreak (Callophrys rubi). Callophrys meaning 'beautiful eyebrow'. Tiny but very beautiful in flight, a flicker of iridescent green.

On the higher, sandier soil away from the stream, the Ox Eye daisies are already in flower.

Ox Eye, or Dog, or Moon Daisy.

Where the rabbits have grazed the grass down, tiny mats of lilac-flowered Heath Speedwell and white-flowered Heath Bedstraw. We're starting to see rabbits on our early morning walks again, after a few years in which their population crashed due to disease. I always thought of rabbits as a pest, back when I was trying to grown vegetables, but Max and I have missed the bunnies, these past few years.