Amazing Dorset Flora

I was impressed by some of the amazing flora I came across while walking over the Dorset uplands. The lowland meadows were awash with buttercup, celendine and daisy, but as you climbed to the higher ground flora changed quite dramatically. For example, climbing to the clifftop path above Lulworth Cove I came across these beautiful mauve/pink wild freesia plants.

Wild Freesia

I don't recall ever seeing these anywhere else in Dorset, but there were several plants close to the footpath above the coast so perhaps they enjoy the salt breeze?

Tilly loved the freedom of running and exploring several of Dorset's Iron Age hill forts. I was impressed by the number of Early Purple Orchids growing among the Cowslips on the slopes.

Early Purple Orchid

Early Purple Orchid

These stunning miniature orchids are obviously hardier than they appear, I find them absolutely beautiful and was dismayed to see someone had picked several, dumping the broken stems on the ground.

Early Purple Orchid

I found it hard to resist photographing these wonderful orchids wherever I came across them.

Something else I found impressive was the number of Cinnabar Moths flitting from bloom to bloom. I'm used to seeing these in the fields of Monmouthshire, but not in such numbers as were present in Dorset. Here's one I photographed feeding on a Field Scabius.

Field Scabius & Cinnabar Moth

Not native and considered by many to be a menace, but nevertheless beautiful are these rododendron blossoms I photographed growing in a hedgerow.

Rododendron

Wild roses in their various forms featured in many hedgerows.

Wild Rose

Wild Rose

It seems to me we often bypass our wild flowers, but we really shouldn't because many are truly spectacular and deserve to be admired and enjoyed.

Poppies gone wild

There's a railway embankment close to my home that has been festooned with thistles and wild poppies for the past couple of years.

This year however the wild flowers have been joined by a couple of self-seeded domesticated poppies.

They've taken a bit of a battering from the high winds and heavy rain of the last 48 hours, but are still doing their best to enhance what is essentially waste ground; aren't they lovely?

Dog Roses

I thought it was appropriate to grab a few images of one of my favourite wild flowers while out walking the dog...

Dog Rose - rosa canina

 I've always found the humble Dog Rose attractive, I think because of their simple beauty.

Whether white or pink these little flowers always bring me pleasure and that's especially true of the 'in bud' form.

The stems can hide some vicious thorns, but the flowers pose no danger to the myriad of insects that visit on a daily basis.

The colour purple

Question: When is a violet not a violet?

Wild Violet

Answer: When it's not purple of course!

Wild 'White' Violet

There are a whole bunch of these rather lovely white violet plants growing in my local wood. I think they are properly called viola blanda; I could well be wrong about that. There are so many of them I've heard other walkers refer to them as wood anemones, but anemones they certainly aren't because this is a wood anemone:

Wood Anemone

A very different plant, especially when seen growing in abundance.

Wood Anemones

I admit I'm not very astute when it comes to identifying plant life and tend to forgive other peoples' mistakes since I appreciate I make so many myself. That said I'm continually surprised when I hear people refer to celandine as buttercup or these little chaps (grape hyacinths) as bluebells:

Grape Hyacinth

Escape from captivity

Don't you just love it when domesticated plants 'escape' the boundaries of the formal garden and flourish in the wild? I certainly do.

Miniature Daffodils and Purple Crocus

These miniature daffodils surrounding the single purple crocus are thriving in a nettle bed beside a hedgerow. I suspect it will only be a matter of days before the quick growing nettles completely swamp the interlopers, but you can bet the daffs and crocus will be back again next spring.

More snowdrops

Spotted these on my morning walk with Tilly today. They're so lovely, I just couldn't resist...

Galanthus nivalis - better known as 'Snowdrops'

Snowdrops

I have been a lifelong fan of these delicate little flowers, it always gladdens my heart to see them. Without doubt they are best enjoyed where they grow naturally carpeting woodland floors or hiding among hedgerows. They also look good when grown domestically in clumps. One of my neighbours has them glowing along her boundary hedge and to me they look so right there.

Of course to really enjoy these little beauties you really need to get up close and personal...

Snowdrops

Lovely aren't they?

A walk in the woods

Took Tilly for a romp in the woods this morning, which she thoroughly enjoyed. No surprises there, she always seems to have fun running in and out among the trees.

I enjoyed it up there today too, despite it being very wet and muddy after all the rain. At least it was dry this morning and there was even some watery sunshine. Fortunately you can avoid the worst of the mud if you venture off the trails and pathways and walk between the trees.

Walking 'off-track' between the trees

For me the only downside of being 'off track' means you are walking on and damaging small plants, in my local wood this means mosses and ferns.

Mossy Growth

I'm sure this kind of moss has a proper name, but I've no idea what that might be. What I do know is I really like delicate little fronds and try not to crush too many plants while I'm walking.

All the fresh green growth reminds me too that Spring is on its way and it will only be a few more weeks before the ground is covered in wood anemone, celandine and  the first of the year's orchids. 😃

Bee-friendly Wild Flower Verges

Over the last few years Monmouthshire County Council has promoted 'Bee-Friendly' verges around the County by spreading wild flower seeds along the roadsides. Not only is this a great way of helping our native bee population it is also a good idea for us humans... our verges are brighter and sweeter smelling! I know you can't sniff these, but just see how pretty our roadsides look:

Nice, eh? And to think my parents would have regarded these beauties as 'weeds' and ripped them out of the garden... what a mistake that was!

Faded Beauty

A little ragged round the edges and a tad faded, but still beautiful, this Small Tortoiseshell butterfly spotted on a head of Common Knapweed yesterday.

Small Tortoiseshell on Knapweed

The butterfly was enjoying a nice feed and I didn't want to disturb it, so just grabbed a couple of quick images before moving on.

Small Tortoiseshell on Knapweed

As you can see Tilly was not impressed by my paying attention to another creature...

Oi! Me, you're supposed to pay attention to me!

Flora (and Fauna) in the Almbachklamm

I simply couldn't leave my short series of blog posts featuring the magnificent Almbachklamm without posting at least a few images of the flora to be found in the gorge. Let's start with these:

Lily of the Valley

Lily of the Valley

Yeah I know, but I thought it was kind of apt to begin the gorge's flora with Lily of the Valley.

If you're a regular reader of this blog you'll already know I'm not much good at identifying plants, I just like to look at them. I'll caption those plants I know, but would be very appreciative of any help to identify the ones I don't.

Cornflower

These are a type of Cornflower I think...

Cornflower 

Cornflower

Ferns have always interested me and I'm pretty sure this next one is a Brittle Bladder Fern.

Brittle Bladder Fern

Wild Strawberry

Love wild strawberries, they are so good to eat. Ahem... don't pick them all!

These are known to me as Granny's Bonnet - their real name is Aquilega. I don't remember seeing them in such a deep purple before.

Aquilega

And I'll finish off with these...

No idea what this caterpillar will turn into, but he's kind of cute.

Talking of cute, how about this little chap?

Foxgloves

How different these wonderful wild flowers appear

In Bright Sunshine

In Shaded Woodland

And In The Rain

Poppies

I thought these were over for the season, but I'm very happy to see I was wrong. There is something about wild poppies that always brings a smile to my face.

Wild Poppies