Flowers at Barnack Hills and Holes

Although our RPS Nature Group found plenty to photograph at Barnack Hills and Holes yesterday, the dry conditions have had a very bad effect on the flora with very few orchids compared to other years (eg only one very small Man Orchid). The Pasque flowers were still putting on a good show with all different stages still present but the Early Purple Orchids were past their best. I resisted going on an invertebrate hunt and concentrated on flowers but there were lots of incidentals like the beetle on the Rock rose, the small spider on the orchid and the small Hymenopteran on the Pasque Flower.

Waresley Wood Bluebells and Other Spring Flowers

Although there are a lot fewer areas of dense Bluebells to previous years, mainly due to the very vigorous Dog's Mercury growth in open areas, there are some dense areas. Today's early cloudy and periodically wet weather was ideal to record the delicate  blue colour. Later we had some sunny intervals which picked out the heads of the Early Purple Orchids (around 50 counted)  and single Bluebells well. I couldn't resist photographing a very impressive Cowslip plant and the Giant Horsetails in the meadow.