Marsh Cudweed looking fresh in its baked hard earth for #StillFlowering for #wildflowerhour

For #StillFlowering for #wildflowerhour it’s hats off to Common Restharrow

Out doing another Big Meadow Search and I know I am supposed to be looking at plants but I was thrilled to find this Wasp Spider. If I wasn’t doing this project I wouldn’t be finding such gems and going to lots of random places

Dwarf Mallow, Malva neglecta. Up to 60cm. Often grows flat on ground. Hairy. Leaves with 5-7 shallow, toothed lobes. Flowers up to 25mm across, in clusters of 2-5 in leaf axils. Petals pale pink with darker veins

Rosebay Willowherb, Chamaenerion angustifolium (2 of 2). Look out for the leaf mines of the micro-moth, Mompha raschkiella. Initially the mine is filled with frass and often close to the midrib. Develops into a yellowish blotch with dispersed frass

Rosebay Willowherb, Chamaenerion angustifolium (1 of 2). Up to 150cm. Alternate, pointed, strap-shaped leaves. Mud-rib raised below. Pinkish-purple flowers up to 3cm across. Four unequally sized petals: upper 2 broader. Four long, narrow reddish sepals. Stigma 4-lobed

A very rural churchyard Big Meadow Search with just House Martins for company #bliss

If you have ever wondered what is inside the snazzy, waisted fruits of Sea Radish…here you go. Surprisingly hard to break the fruit open even when ripe

Common Cow-wheat, Melampyrum pratense. Hemi-parasite. Forms patches. Branched. Up to 60cm. 2-lipped, tubular yellow flowers in pairs. Purple marks near mouth. Upper lip forms hood, lower lip has 3 small teeth. Calyx has 4 long, pointed teeth. Stem can be purplish. Leaves opposite

Here is an example in motion

We are halfway through Big Meadow Search 2026. There are still 6 weeks left for you to get out and about recording plants in your local green spaces. All the details are here www.bigmeadowsearch.co.uk/get-involved

Field Bindweed, Convolvulus arvensis. Up to 75cm. Leaves to 5cm, alternate with basal lobes. Flowers trumpet-shaped, white or pink and white, 1-3cm across. Two small, narrow bracts halfway along flower stalk

Trailing St.John’s-wort, Hypericum humifusum. Sprawling, slender, reddish stems. Leaves to 10mm, oblong-oval & with dark glands along edges. Bright yellow flowers to 12mm. Sepals slightly shorter than petals and unequal in size. Petals and sepals also have black glands on margins

Fat-hen, Chenopodium album (2 of 2). Larval food plant for Bright-line Brown-eye, Lacanobia oleracea. Forewing length 14-19mm. Usual flight season: May-late July. Larvae feed on wide range of other plants inc. Common Nettle, St. John’s-worts, willowherbs, Traveller’s-joy & Hazel

For #AquaticPlants for #wildflowerhour Fool’s-water-cress, Helosciadium nodiflorum

Woolly Alder Sawfly, Eriocampa ovata larva. Up to 2cm. Produces waxy secretion from epidermal glands to provide protection from predators presumably through mimicry of bird poo. In the final instar stage the waxy coating is lost and the larva is pale green. Feeds on Alder species

Churchyard Betony

Ivy-leaved Bellflower, Wahlenbergia hederacea. Near Threatened status. Up to 30cm. Thread-like stems. Alternate, stalked, angular leaves up to 10mm. Solitary pale blue flower. Short, narrow calyx teeth.

Bur-reed species, Sparganium sp. (2 of 2). One of larval food plants for Beautiful China-mark, Nymphula nitidulata. Forewing 10-12mm. Flies May to early September. Larvae feed below water surface in between spun leaves or in the stem

Branched Bur-reed, Sparganium erectum (1 of 2). Up to 150cm. Keeled leaves up to 20mm wide. Upper flower heads male (usually 6-9) and lower ones female (1-3 and open first). Branched flower spikes. Beaked fruits in spherical heads

Marsh Yellow-cress, Rorippa palustris, Up to 60cm. 2-6 lateral lobes on stem leaves. Petal and sepal length similar. Fruits up to 10mm and arise all around the stem

A treat to see some arable ‘weeds’ today in Ceredigion. Included Field Pansy, Corn Marigold and Field Woundwort

Peach Blossom, Thyatira batis. Flies late May to late July. Larval foodplant is Bramble. Common across the UK Photos don’t do it justice

Hogweed, Heracleum sphondylium (3 of 3). Cheilosia illustrata hoverfly larvae mine stems and roots whilst adults often feed on the flowers. Adults will also feed on other umbellifers

Hogweed, Heracleum sphondylium (2 of 3). Larval food plant (along with Wild Parsnip) for the Parsnip Moth, Depressaria radiella. Larva forms a silk spinning amongst flowers and seeds

Another day and another new BMS site type for 2026: golf course rough. A glorious display of Harebell, Campanula rotundifolia

Hogweed, Heracleum sphondylium (1 of 3). Usually up to 180cm. Bristly. Hollow, ridged stem. Leaves up to 60cm, divided into 2-3 pairs of irregular leaflets. Leaves stalked and inflated at the base. Umbels up to 15cm across. Bracts few or absent. Bracteoles present. Flowers with one plane of symmetry

For #ClimbingPlants for #wildflowerhour it’s Clematis vitalba which also goes by these names: Traveller’s Joy, Old Man’s Beard, Bellywind, Beggar brushes, Devil’s guts and Love entangled.

Herald, Scoliopteryx libatrix. Resident. Common across most of UK. Overwinters as an adult in outbuildings and caves. Larval food plants are willows, Aspen and poplars.