www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Thanks Shaun and Dave for the Horsetails info - much appreciated!
Kind regards
Deano.

The small Prunus trees in full flower are probably Cherry Plum (Prunus cerasifera), which flowers earlier than Blackthorn and Wild Cherry.

Misha

NIce pics Jack. I think the close up could be wild cherry but blackthorn has been in flower for several weeks here and is past its peak so the shorter trees that you saw could well be the same. Blackthorn flowers are smaller than cherry.
This was the first I saw on March 11th.

A nice seed head to get some Macro photos going in case a see any butterfly. Shirley

hi jack,
in answer to your original question at the head of the thread,
in the main landscape pic you have a clump of grey veg with tall flower spikes, this would be senecio bicolor,( silver ragwort) asteraceae family.
also of the same family is the seperate yellow flowered plant, which is inula crithmoides (golden samphire).
the one i can only speculate on is the seed head in the left of the first pic which looks to be of the liliaceae family perhaps an asphodeline species native to the region. interestingly the senecio is widely used in cultivation as a bedding plant here in britain.
gary.

Thousands of Cowslips to be seen at Magdalen Hill today, and blue sky

Gruditch

Thanks geniculata for identifying my Maltese flowers. Interesting to know that we grow them in the gardens here.

Jack

There is still a perception that Cowslips are not common. I have no idea where that idea originated but certainly in western East Anglia Cowslips are very common indeed – they even turn up naturally in my garden. This picture is just a small part of an extensive colony on grassland near to my home.

Jack

I just commented about the abundance of Cowslips. Now this is a real rarity in the wild - Snakeshead Fritillary – being a species of damp meadows, eg Cricklade.However, this one is a cheat and although I found it on a roadside verge, is is clearly an escape from a nearby garden.

Jack

Sloe now fully out in South Cambridgeshire.Jack

Got these, there is a lot of dog violets appearing all over the place where I live:



And this blossom I thought looked nice:

Rushmere Heath, (TM199446) Ipswich, is apparently very good for Green Hairstreaks.
I drew a blank on 15th April but the habitat (shared with the golfers) is delightful. Jack

Bluebells showing well now at Willsbridge Mill near Bristol.

hi all,
thought you might like to see some orchids, the third image is early purple taken at martin down on the weekend.
The second was taken today in an old orchard in the new forest, its green winged .
the first pic is one of my favorite bog plants on the forest though not an orchid, it's bog bean, with its wonderfully white hairy petals, also taken today.

I found lots of white flowers last week at a lake I was at, can anyone identify what it is? I have seen them once before here, but nowhere else. I thought it was a fritillary, but the leaves are different as you can see in image and it looked a little small for a fritillary.
Got this Hairy Dog Violet during last week too: Also today, just before the rain came, got this close up of a cuckooflower (no Orange Tips in sight, so this was all I got):

hi dave,

its wood anemone ( anemone nemorosa)
gary.

Cheers Gary, your right. I have not seen them with flowers open before to know what it was. Maybe if I go back again, I'll get the chance.

early orchids again,

taken at the weekend at noar hill. the first is early purple again with a nice smuttering of them amongst the cowslips, the second is two images of twayblade's a rather more unusual looking orchid but quite widespread in its distribution, these examples were nice robust plants but not yet fully in flower.

gary.

Masses of bluebells out in the woods and along the hedgerows around here and a fair sprinkling of early purple orchids in between them.

More Orchids, this time Green-winged and Early Spider, both taken at Durlston Country Park today.

Gruditch