Cows, Spiders and Butterflies day today :-)

 We went to Durlston Country Park today, beautiful sunny day and it is now the beginning of the wildflower meadow season, the Cowslips and Early Spider orchids first on the scene.  

 Can you spot the butterfly?

There was a few of these Speckled Wood butterflies today, I think they must have been the males because they appear to be fighting with each other.

 Early Spider Orchid

Cowslip

A meadow full of Cowslip, the beginning of the wildflower meadow season

Common Dog-violet

The Bluebell Season

The Bluebell season is now upon us, this was taken at one of our haunts, the woodlands in Edmondsham. 

Cyclamen, this I don't think is actually a wild native plant even though it is growing wild near the bluebell woods in Edmondsham.  I have been informed on Flickr that this is Cyclamen repandum, not a native plant but has naturalised, not as common as the Cyclamen hederifolium which flowers in the Autumn. 
 

A Host, of Golden Daffodils

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

I think a lot of us are familiar with Williams Wordsworth's poem about the daffodils, fortunately in Lytchett Matravers, close to where I live, there is a host of wild daffodils in the woods near the church of St Mary's.  It is also known as the 'Lent lily' since it often blooms and fades within the Lenten period.  Apparently the wild daffodil, like so many of our native wild flowers, is becoming scarcer, so it is a real treat to have these close enough for me to walk to the woods and get these pictures of them.