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25th May |
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A complete washout. 20 hours of continuous rain - very heavy at times.
Still, it gives me a chance to look forward to June. The majority of our flowering plants will be in flower by the end of the month - the St. John's worts and Willowherbs will be opening, soon. Our local Common Spotted Orchids are now making spikes and the Northern Marsh Orchids will appear, too. A trip to the south of the county to find Pyramidal, Fragrant, Frog and Butterfly Orchids is on the cards. A decent south wind should bring our migrant butterflies - Red Admiral and Painted Lady. The Ringlet will also show, soon, and I hope to record the Wall and Real's Wood White near the coast. Damselflies have started to appear sporadically and dragonflies will be around, soon. Angelica will open, and that will bring a host of bees, wasps and hoverflies all nectaring on the dinner-plate sized flower heads. The ichneumons will, of course, be taking advantage of all this, too. This should be a quiet month for fungi, but I'll keep on looking for rusts on their hosts. May has been a very wet and, above all, cold month. I'd say that we're now more or less back on schedule with flowering plants, having been weeks ahead in April. |