I am nowhere near the sea this week, so here is one from the archive. Ards Forest park in Donegal, June 2025. Thrift on the rocks. #wildflowerhour #seaplants

#wildflowerhour Wild radish after a welcome drop of rain, the first for weeks. No wetlands here, sadly.

Seeing double this week! Flax, bindweed, stemless thistle, oxeye daisy, and wild carrot. All in pairs. #wildflowerhour #stillflowering

#wildflowerhour #stillflowering An explosion of colour…

#wildflowerhour #aquaticplants Does greater spearwort count as an aquatic plant? In a small Oxfordshire pond, which has almost dried up.

#wildflowerhour Happy to see harebells bobbing in the breeze up on the Chiltern escarpment today. An early morning walk before it got too hot.

#wildflowerhour #climbingplants A pretty jumble of pink and white candystripe trumpets - field bindweed clambering all over the neighbouring vegetation in this farm pasture.

#wildflowerhour #climbingplants Large bindweed was competing with honeysuckle to completely cover the bramble beneath. Other non-climbing finds: pink common centaury, devil’s bit scabious, and some sneezewort (high pollen count today!).

#wildflowerhour My first encounter with a Lizard orchid on Minchinhampton common. Very strange structure.

#wildflowerhour Black knapweed,and rosebay willowherb

A rose between two … horns? A black and yellow longhorn beetle (rutpela maculata) on field rose. #wildflowerhour #pollinatorpals Oedemera beetle (?) on scabious, bee on viper’s bugloss, marmalade hoverflies on rose, marbled white butterfly on welted thistle - not the usual knapweed.

Some more flowers from this week. Poppies and vipers bugloss brightening up the field margins near us. A pale common spotted orchid, some zigzag clover, and a patch of pyramidal orchids in the shade under a tree. #wildflowerhour

#wildflowerhour #churchyardflowers “I shall be one with nature, herb, and stone,” Shelley would tell me… Pushing up daisies… [from A Terre, by Wilfred Owen] A profusion of oxeye daisies at Stanton St John yesterday.

#wildflowerhour #lawnflowers A miniature tapestry, in a square foot of my back lawn. These plants may be tiny but their names are quite long: Thyme-leaved speedwell; common mouse ear chickweed; small flowered cranesbill; lesser hop trefoil; and some square gooseneck moss. Hard to focus at this scale

Late for #orchidchallenge #wildflowerhour but had to share these lovely bee orchids found today on Minchinhampton common. One of a group of about 9 in a small area.

#wildflowerhour #orchidchallenge Common spotted, fragrant, and pyramidal orchids in South Oxfordshire this week.

#wildflowerhour It was the bright pink of this Grass Vetchling - Lathyrus nissolia - which helped me to spot it, yesterday, tucked away at the edge of Bernwood Meadows. An exciting new find for my list.

#wildflowerhour #tinyplants On our walk today we spotted this brown argus butterfly feeding on a tiny forget-me-not flower (a wood forget-me-not, possibly). It somehow knows that the yellow-centred flower is the one to go for. Photo courtesy of Chris White.

#tinyplants #wildflowerhour Common sorrel flowers, an elderflower head just opening, and tiny white flowers on goosegrass.

#wildflowerhour #carrotsandpeas Cow parsley and common vetch intertwining prettily in an old orchard this week.

#wildflowerhour #buttercupchallenge I loved this week’s challenge! Managed to discover 4 different types: creeping, meadow, bulbous, and goldilocks buttercups, all in south Oxon.

#wildflowerhour #hedgerowchallenge

#wildflowerhour Some finds from the Chilterns today, up on the chalk escarpment, and in the woods: milkwort, salad burnet, bluebells, cowslips galore, sweet woodruff, wild strawberry.

#wildflowerhour Variations in colour in green-winged orchids at #BBOWT Bernwood meadows today. A stunning display.

#wildflowerhour It’s been a flowery week! Red campion, ivy leaved toadflax, marsh marigold, cowslip, green alkanet, hawthorn, field pansy, elderflower, dove’s foot cranesbill

Early purple orchids just beginning to appear on Minchinhampton common. #wildflowerhour

#wildflowerhour #woodlandplants Wild garlic out in force in a Gloucestershire wood today.

#wildflowerhour #cowslipchallenge A group of cowslips at Wytham woods on Thursday. Some of the flowers have been nibbled by something.

#wildflowerhour #treeflowers Wild Cherry, under a clear blue sky, earlier this week. Also ash buds bursting open. I am not sure if these are male or female. I don’t know how to tell the difference…?

#wildflowerhour #storyplants Happy to see my first bluebells of this year. Ray Mears once used chewed bluebell bulb sap (careful - it’s toxic!) to make glue to attach flight feathers to an arrow - an ancient tool - with knowledge from the Hadza tribe. Also once used as a bookbinders’ glue.