A mid-summer stroll

After a really wet start to the summer that kept me off the site for months, it was a real delight today to have a walk across the slopes with some volunteers and to really take in and savour the gorgeous condition of the grassland.

If you haven’t been to Hartslock in mid summer then you really should try to get there soon. The slopes are really covered with flowers – knapweeds, scabiouses, wild carrot, wild parsnip, hairbells, clustered bellflowers, marjoram, thyme, rock rose, yellow wort, centaury, squinancywort, bastard toadflax, dodder, fairly flax, to name just a few. The Bastard Toadflax was also sporting some Bastard Toadlfax bugs and its specific mildew.

Butterflies & moths weren’t lacking either with plenty of Gatekeepers, Meadow Browns, Small Heaths, Large & Small Whites, Brimstones, Common Blue, Chalk-hill Blues & a Dark-green Fritillary. Plus Mecyna flavalis, 6-spot burnets, Pyrausta purpuralis & a Silver-Y.