Very unexpected in local wood: male Beautiful Demoiselle #damselfly, immature, brown wings and eyes. Unexpected as not far from the Worcestershire Avon so we have clouds of Banded D but I've never seen a Beautiful D locally. Until now! @britishdragonflies.bsky.social @stevenwright58.bsky.social

Friday lunchtime walk in the local wood: Dog Roses, Speckled Wood (lots), Common Blue on Bird's-Foot Trefoil in one of the rides.

Garden cohabitees. Large Red and Azure #Damselfly ,one of 2 Broad Bodied Chaser #dragonflies and Holly Blue butterflies having a good 1st brood. @britishdragonflies.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social @bcwarwickshire.bsky.social

#nomowmay to #nomowsummer This 3x2m patch has shade most of the day & was a damp "lawn" until spring 2021. Dug in 25mm of sand, sowed a 50/50 wild grasses & wildflower seed mix & cut it regularly to 60mm. Since Sept 2021 it's cut Sept-April to 60mm, left to grow all summer. Now a lovely mini meadow!

Green female and blue male Banded Demoiselle damselflies teeming through dense riverside vegetation on a very hot day along the Worcestershire Avon. Beautiful and extremely abundant. @britishdragonflies.bsky.social @worcswt.bsky.social

Early Marsh Orchids in a quite compact group of about 60 flowering plants, in the centre of a Cotswold riverside meadow. The meadow will soon be filled with Southern Marsh Orchids, here showing their purple flower buds at the foot of the 4th image. @ukorchids.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

A Painted Lady enjoying our Bee+Butterfly border for hours, moving between Red Valarian and (here) Macedonian Scabious. The wing damage meant I could see it was this specific one. Others have also been visiting, spectacular visitors for this time of year and obviously approving the plant choices!

Another early walk around the local patch; Field Bindweed, White Dead-nettle, Bittersweet, Hedge Woundwort. Heard a Yellowhammer, many Skylarks and a Song Thrush effortlessly & beautifully living up to its name.

Ox-eye Daisies towering above them, some tiny Burnt Orchids are gems in this wonderful, species-rich Cotswold hay meadow. Thanks to @ukorchids.bsky.social for the info that the orchids were back this year! (None flowered in the 2025 drought.) @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Some non-orchid pictures from last week at Hartslock NR. A beautiful site of chalk downland overlooking the Thames with many wildflowers, though very dry this year. Also a fine place for looking down on Red Kites as they hunt along the valley below.

Hartslock's swarm of Lady x Monkey Orchid hybrids were starting to go over in the hot weather, but they were still as exotic and astonishing a spectacle as always. Some orchid days you search for a tiny flower almost lost in short grass - but not here! @ukorchids.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Three Hartslock Monkeys - at least I assume "pure" Monkey Orchids. Small and delicate-looking compared with the hybrids with a 'jumble' of flowers waving long 'arms and legs'. First two were growing well away from the hybrids, nearer the gate. @ukorchids.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Another hot day ahead so another early local walk, the late-spring white blossoms at their best. Wild Privet (gently rounded heads of flowers) and Elder (flat, slightly cream flower heads.)

Broad-bodied Chasers emerging from the pond this morning - at least 3 today and a couple yesterday. Sadly a couple have wings that haven’t done so well. Hope they have a few nice days at least. #dragonflies @britishdragonflies.bsky.social

Eutrophic but supporting Damseld and dragons. Cme home to find these around the garden pond this afternoon. Large Red and Azure damselflies and a broas Bodied chaser dragonfly. @lgspace.bsky.social @britishdragonflies.bsky.social

Some "unexpected" Cotswold orchids: Early-purple Orchids found by chance in woodland & a familiar downland north slope of Green-Winged Orchids also looking unexpectedly good for late May & numbers back up very strongly after a dip in the 2025 drought. @ukorchids.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Gloucestershire Burnt Orchids, dry limestone grassland. 4 flower buds found this year but only 3 have made it. The pale one looks unusual and not a plant I've seen in previous years; we'll see when it opens fully! @ukorchids.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

The orchids performed beautifully in the Cotswolds this weekend, with many in perfect condition. Our @greenwingstours.bsky.social guests had a great time, and some lovely ice cream! Special thanks to Mark and Graham for specific help, and always to Duncan for his intimate knowledge of the area 👌👌

N. Yorkshire Burnt-tip & Fly Orchid, seen this afternoon. @bsbibotany.bsky.social @whitbybotanist.bsky.social @northyorkmoors.org.uk

Early morning walk around the local patch before the day heats up. The Goat's-Beard (Tragopogon pratensis), aka 'Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon', proves it was morning! Heard two cuckoos and many skylarks.

Water Crowfoot and Yellow Flag Iris on a clear limestone river in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds. @wildflowerhour.bsky.social #WildFlowerShow #WildflowerHour

Down by the river (Avon) in Worcestershire. Trying to learn some dragons and damsels. I've named them in ALText and reckon they might be right. Any corrections welcomed. @britishdragonflies.bsky.social

Fly Orchids on the Stroud Commons, Gloucestershire. Smaller with the dry weather but doing well. Bee Orchids coming up strongly, their first flower buds just colouring. @ukorchids.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

White Helleborines in very deep & dry shade under low-hanging beech trees, Gloucestershire Cotswolds.

Some later flowering Green-Winged Orchids still looking good on the Stroud Commons, Gloucestershire. @ukorchids.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Gloucestershire Ophrys x pietzschii, Bee Orchid x Fly Orchid hybrid. Only one of this little group flowering this year out of 3 seen in 2024, just one (I think this same plant) also in 2025. @ukorchids.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

From late April: wild Red Mason bees using some of the bee boxes in our wildlife garden and busy pollinating our apple trees. This apple tree is a 'Jupiter', a triploid and so not self-fertile & *has* to have pollen from another variety. Thanks to the bees, a pollination rate of ~100%! #WorldBeeDay

Not a good year, again, for Burnt Tip Orchids, so pleased to capture this stunner 😍

Large Red Damselflies on a Marsh Marigold leaf by our 3x2m wildlife pond. I enlarged the pond in 2021 and the first breeding Large Reds arrived in 2022. @britishdragonflies.bsky.social Some of our Marsh Marigolds in April, seeds well & easy to divide later in summer for more @bsbibotany.bsky.social

In 2024 I cut and raked a strip of rough grass outside the garage to break up the thatch, and now it's a sunny, dry patch of wildflowers - about a dozen species. Just 2.5x0.3m but it's a habitat! Latest is Hedge Mustard, which doesn't grow elsewhere on the lane. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Difficult to find anything at Hartslock, last week, that felt like a ‘pure’ Monkey Orchid (Orchis simia). This very pale individual was my best contender ! #orchid

Sword-Leaved Helleborines, cool and elegant in Warwickshire woodland. @ukorchids.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Lesser Trefoil in sheep-grazed limestone grassland. @bsbibotany.bsky.social @wildflowerhour.bsky.social #WildflowerHour #TinyPlants And could anyone ID the white flower with hairy stem & leaves please? (Which I didn't spot when taking the image!)

Parsonage Down - "Nil Points"; Martin Down - "Tres" - Burnt-tip orchids 😃 16/5/2026 @orchidvinny.bsky.social @lizlouise.bsky.social @stevieparsons.bsky.social

Two tiny, beautiful blue flowers of limestone grassland, Gloucestershire. Germander Speedwell and Common Milkwort. @bsbibotany.bsky.social @wildflowerhour.bsky.social #WildflowerHour #TinyPlants

16/5/26 #Yorkshire - I could only find one Burnt Tip #Orchid (Neotinea ustulata) at the meadow I visited today, a species that feels like it is on the brink at just about every Northern site I know it from. I wonder how much longer it will cling on at this one #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Gloucestershire Burnt Orchids coming up slowly but steadily after a chilly week. Very few, but very special! Forecast rain then warm days should soon see them at their best. @ukorchids.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

A gorgeous and aptly named Burnt or Burnt-tip Orchid on the #SouthDowns. Took some finding on a big and steep chalk grassland! @sussexwildlife.bsky.social @ukorchids.bsky.social @southdownsnp.bsky.social

Bee Orchid flower spike buds just showing at Cleeve Common Gloucestershire. No flowers last year, too dry, but this year all the colonies I checked look good! They're later flowering than local Bees down in the vales as growing at 200m-300m asl @ukorchids.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Early-purple Orchids at Cleeve Common Gloucestershire, getting later in their season but some still looking good last weekend. @ukorchids.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Meadow Saxifrage in old limestone grassland on the Cotswolds. Too dry for it last year, great to see it abundant again. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Only 4 Burnt orchids seen at Pewsey Downs today; better than last year when there were none. Most years there are 100s; still it's early yet.... @ukorchids.bsky.social

Burnt Orchid flowers just emerging at their Gloucestershire site, only a handful of plants here so each one is extra special! Pleased to see them back after no flowers in the drought last year. @ukorchids.bsky.social

Some more Early-purple orchids at a Cotswold limestone grassland site.

Early-purple orchids at a limestone grassland site high on the Cotswolds. Smaller and fewer than usual after the severe drought last spring; still beautiful.

Blue-tailed Damselfly violacea female partway to becoming the typica form. Probably emerged from the wildlife pond in the recent hot weather, seen resting on Snake's-Head Fritillary stems in our garden mini-meadow.

Meadow Buttercup, Ribwort Plantain and Salad Burnet are the plants of the moment in our garden mini-meadow.

More attractive Green-winged orchid colour variants from the site near Malvern, a natural gallery in two meadows.

Green-winged orchids peaking at a site near Malvern known for a high proportion of unusual colour variants.

Green-winged orchids abundant as usual at their best Worcestershire site.