6th May

Drumboe Woods, today. This is a very rich habitat with ancient Oaks, a wide river, many streams and bits of marsh. The photographs are in sequence as I walked through the woods, then along the river, and up the hill to a densely wooded area. One Orange-Tip (male).

First, the forming flower of the Bog Stitchwort, growing beside Wood Anemones, Wood Sorrel, Wood Speedwell, Lesser Celandines and Bluebells.

The flowers of the Bog Stitchwort are very interesting, in that they are made up of 10 half-petals arranged to look like 5. The two crossed petals on the left will be arranged into a vee, the top half being the bottom half of the upper petal, and the bottom half being the top half of the lower petal (phew).

The Broom has just come into bud. I managed to miss this plant entirely, last year.

This is the bud of the Common Cat's Ear - one of the yellow daisies. The characteristic shape of the very hairy leaves is indicated in the background.

As I moved away from the river, I spotted this Orange-Tip male. They're very flighty, so this is the only shot.

Parts of this area are covered in Bluebells. In one very small patch, I spotted these three white specimens:

I spotted the first opening flower of the Yellow Pimpernel and just managed to get this shot before the sky went black and we had a very heavy hail shower.

While I was sheltering under the Rhododendron I began to itch and looked up. Every leaf had a mosquito hiding under it. They're quite large - the body is just under 1 cm. long.

Finally, the emerging Thyme-Leaved-Speedwell.

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