Overcast with occasional showers.
Cotton Grass - Eriophorum angustiflium - has flowered. The obvious difference between this and Harestail Cotton grass is the number of flower heads.
I was attracted to this specific Common Spotted Orchid because of the red pattern colour of the flowers. That often suggests that there's some Northern Marsh Orchid in the mix (and they're about 1 kilometre away from this spot). Suddenly I noticed that the growing tip had split into 3. Talk about hybrid vigour! That's going to be some spike. Or 3.
There are many more Spotted Orchids around this year. Yesterday I counted around 300 specimens in a 10m stretch of verge. Of the specimens shown, most are Common Spotted Orchid, but a couple are much more towards the Heath Spotted Orchid end of the spectrum.
Two Common Spotted Orchids with very pointed lower lips.
And this specimen has a high percentage of Heath Spotted Orchid.
Marsh Thistle - Cirsium palustre - offers the opportunity for more insect pictures.
A couple of moths. Opsybotis fuscalis (first shown on 12th June) on the left and Red-necked Footman - Atolmis rubricolis - on the right.
The Orange Tip larvae continue to grow. This one is about 20mm long.
Ragged Robin flowered and then the first flush of flowers died in the strong heat of last week, and I missed them. This is actually the second flush. Lychnis flos-cuculi.
Water Forgetmenot - Myosotis scorpioides - lured me down to the water just so that the midges could assault me. Note the minute ichneumon to the left (I didn't see it until I was cropping the image).
A new star for the show....I've often seen pictures of this hoverfly, but never seen it in the flesh (chitin?). Sphaerophoria scripta (female), about 8mm long.
Some interesting beetles on Ladys Smock. Three's a crowd...