Orchid hunting trip with the Irish Orchid Society to Co. Sligo. Continued from yesterday.
These images were all taken in one enormous 'meadow' reaching down to the sea.
Bright periods with some cloud.
The Common Centaury is a plant with strange habitat requirements. It grows in so many different environments that you'd expect to find it everywhere, but it's very localised. Lovely colour.
Two shots of Brookweed - a member of the Primrose family. Flowers 5mm across, growing in bog.
Another bog plant - the Bog Pimpernel. This is a very prostrate plant, with the flowers just peering up through the grasses.
I haven't seen a Harebell in many years. This was the sole specimen encountered. A lovely delicate flower - the Scottish 'Bluebell'.
This is a specimen of Livia juncorum - a gall caused by a jumping louse that affects Jointed Rush. The clump of distorted shoots forms a safe haven for the grub.
This little fungus was quite common on the meadow. About 15 mm across the cap. It's an Entoloma in the Leptonia group.
These are the larvae of the Cinnabar moth, busy
doing what they do best - destroying Ragwort.
And this is the cocoon of (I suspect) the 6-spot Burnet moth.
Finally, here's an image of the flower of the Marsh Helleborine in close-up. A truly beautiful flower. Specimen about 2.5 cm across.
