Sunshine, steam and motorbikes… what’s not to like at Abbey Hill Steam Rally?
Are these the first Dorset field poppies of 2022? I was out and about today and chanced upon these Dorset red poppies,...
Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) has got to be one of the weirdest looking plants there is, certainly in this country. Not only that, it’s highly poisonous, smells sickly sweet and only flowers biennially (every two years). Once seen, never forgotten.
We are lucky in Dorset because we have what is possibly the best site for early spider-orchids in the UK. Ophrys sphegodes is also the first orchid to flower each year, heralding the start of the ‘orchid season.’ This year, I also found a woodcock orchid x Fly orchid hybrid, growing on a steep, Dorset hillside.
There are an estimated 20,000 pasqueflower plants (Pulsatilla vulgaris) growing at Barnsley Warren SSSI, in the Cotswolds, Gloucestershire.
Therfield Heath is renowned for its abundant colony of pasqueflowers and people travel from far and wide (like I did!) to see this annual Easter-tide spectacle. This really is the best place for ‘pasqueflower action’ in the UK!
The first pasqueflower to bloom at Martin Down National Nature Reserve in 2022.