A meadow full of ringlets

In between torrential downpours the ringlets have been on the wing. These pretty brown butterflies flit and flutter around me when I walk the dogs and don't alight for long. I finally bagged a shot of one after a determined bout of butterfly chasing.

Ringlet

All of these plants and butterflies are on the field we call the Moor which is an acidic boggy field with streams and tussocky grasses, reeds, grassy areas and a fenced off vegetable patch. It's full of snipe and during this walk/butterfly chase I also saw a hen harrier, a buzzard and a red kite.

My favourite grass - I haven't identified it yet.

There's a lot of the parasitic flower Yellow Rattle too, which we're encouraging as it suppresses the grass in favour of the flowers and is regarded, in environmental circles, as a Good Thing.

Ragged Robin

The Moor has narrow paths that we have worn down over the years but for the most part it cannot be walked on (or rather in - the grasses are waist high) and if you stray from the path you can end up welly-deep in boggy ground. When we moved here neighbouring farmers recommended we drained 'the boggy patch' or we'd 'lose the cattle' in it in the winter. We ignored such advice and this precious bit of habitat is now protected by our environmental farming scheme.

Common spotted-orchid

Every year we check on the orchids. It feels like such a privilege that they grow here. They're small, beautiful but incredibly tough. This one was photographed after it was bounced on by my glamorous assistants (see later picture).

Bog Asphodel

My wild flowers book doesn't mention that Bog Asphodel packs one heck of a punch in the perfume department. It's such a tiny lily but it has the fragrance of a much bigger plant. The fragrance hangs in the air nearby though, so you can often overlook the tiny flower beneath.

Glamorous assistant and tiny flower

Mido demonstrating just how small the Bog Asphodel is. If I hadn't encountered the perfume I never would have gone looking for it. We only found it a couple of years ago. I think we'd spent a few years stepping on it on the way to the orchids.

A new bloom

Sunday's dry gap between the showers gave me the opportunity to pop out to our wetland to see how the native wildflowers are coping. We are particularly proud of this area of land which is named 'Gweirglodd' in ancient Welsh, meaning 'boggy wet place' or something similar. We call it 'The Moor'.


This year for the first time we have an area of Bog Asphodel (above) an absolutely gorgeous member of the lily family with highly fragrant spikes of yellow starry blooms.

This is the Spotted Marsh Orchid, which blooms in droves from June to July. It starts this lovely dark pink, then fades to almost white, like the one in the background.

And this is Whorled Caraway, which is the county flower of Carmarthenshire.