It had warmed up quite a bit when I arrived at Queendown Warren this morning. There were good numbers of butterflies in evidence mainly meadow browns and gatekeepers, they seemed to be everywhere. A quick look for adders revealed none in the usual spots but given the heat I was being optimistic but you never know. The top ride in Potters Wood had a good display of wild flowers and the couple of buddleia bushes there had around 10 peacocks feeding on them along with commas and more meadow browns. At the base of the beech trees you can find another orchid species called broad-leaved helleborine which does have very attractive flowers.
Broad-leaved Helleborine
Ride through Potters Wood with mullein sp. which I should have taken more notice of because I cannot identify it.
Thanks to Greenie, i've taken a little more time to check my other photos and have come to the conclusion that it is twiggy mullein an introduced species, mainly as the flowers are in clusters.
Loads of butterflies on the main chalk bank including the odd Essex skipper.
A couple of chalkhill blues were zooming around and also plenty of marbled whites and I couldn't resist this one on knapweed.
Marbled White
2 comments:
John ,
See what you mean with the Mullein . It's got the flower colour of White but not branched , with very little leaf . The only thing I can put forward is from an old book I have .
Verbascum blattaria-Moth Mullein is quoted as having yellow , but can be pale pink or white , orange anthers and conspicuous purple hairs on the stamens . Rare , found on waste places in the South .
Very nice picture of Broad-leaved Helleborine John
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