Back in late May we visited Berry Head to see some of its rarer wild flowers after having been rather too late last year when we visited. We saw everything we were looking for except
Small Hare's-ear which we were too early for this time. However we went back last Sunday and found lots of it both in one of the spots we'd looked at earlier and in a new location passed onto me via a contact on Twitter. This is a tiny plant and very difficult to see and it is also very rare growing only here and Beachy Head in East Sussex.The other flowers were
White Rock Rose,
Small Restharrow,
Honewort and
Dwarf Mouse-ear. We also found a beautiful salmon pink
Scarlet Pimpernel. After our May visit we drove over to the west side of Dartmoor to look for
Heath Fritillaries on a Butterfly Conservation Reserve. There were lots on the wing and the very first one we saw was a stunning aberration too! We also saw a few
Pearl-bordered Fritillaries and
Small-pearl-bordered Fritillaries here.
White Rock Rose - Helianthemum apenninum
Double flowered White Rock Rose
Honewort - Trinia glauca
Small Restharrow - Ononis reclinata
Small Hare's-ear - Bupleurum baldense
It's very small and if you can't picture just how small from these photos...
...Here's one with a polo mint for scale. See it's tiny!
Dwarf Mouse-ear - Cerastium pumilum
Scarlet Pimpernel - Anagallis arvensis
Aberrant Heath Fritillary - Melitaea athalia ab. corythalia
Heath Fritillary - Melitaea athalia
(Bog-standard version)
Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Boloria selene
Very fresh with a still crumpled wing.
Bastard Balm - Melittis melissophyllum
