#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.

#wildflowerhour Warm sunshine at last. Marsh marigold, coltsfoot, wood anemone, and red-stemmed stork’s bill all emerging this week.

#wildflowerhour #whiteflowers Cherry plum, blackthorn

#wildflowerhour #whiteflowers Deadnettle with its top nibbled off, a white red deadnettle, daisy, white violet.

#wildflowerhour #signsofspring Primroses, and blackthorn bursting into bud

Shades of yellow this week, and variations in number and shape of petals. Celandine (this one reluctant to open in the rain) primrose, gorse, and aconite. #wildflowerhour

…and yet more snowdrops, glorious in Gloucestershire #wildflowerhour

Sunshine and showers this week. Sweet violet basking in the low winter sun, and some rain-drenched snowdrops. #wildflowerhour

Scarlet elf cup in our local wood this morning. A bright splash of colour against the moss. #fungifriday

#wildflowerhour Alder catkins and - I think - the flowers?

Snowdrops in an Oxford graveyard today. Not really wild I guess #wildflowerhour

Shepherd’s purse #wildflowerhour

Managed to spot ten this week: green alkanet, hazel, yarrow, stinking hellebore, petty spurge, primrose, red deadnettle, gorse, speedwell (common field?), and a bank of snowdrops, all in south Oxon. #wildflowerhour #thewinter10

Late for #wildflowerhour sorry. Two snowdrops just emerging.

Two of the few flowers spotted on a walk in South Oxfordshire today. Field scabious (I think - as it had a long stem) and ivy leaved toadflax. Also (not pictured) we saw yarrow, white dead-nettle, shepherd’s purse, primrose, violet, daisy, and thyme leaved speedwell - not quite the winter 10.

Two of the few flowers spotted on a walk in South Oxfordshire today. Field scabious (I think - as it had a long stem) and ivy leaved toadflax. Also (not pictured) we saw yarrow, white dead-nettle, shepherd’s purse, primrose, violet, daisy, and thyme leaved speedwell - not quite the winter 10.

Bush vetch still in flower in the Chilterns yesterday #wildflowerhour

#wildflowerhour #thewinterten Surprised myself by managing to find ten slightly bedraggled plants in flower on a rainy walk around our village today. Dandelion, daisy, red valerian, red deadnettle, hazel, primrose, yarrow (red and white forms) petty spurge, and white deadnettle.

A strange, wintery-looking combination this week - meadowsweet coming into flower (seems late?) looking at first glance like frosty seedheads, set against a background of greenery and bright red berries (of white briony I think). By our local pond, in Oxfordshire. #wildflowerhour

Upright coral fungus at Harcourt arboretum today #fungifriday

#wildflowerhour #thewinterten All from South Oxfordshire earlier in the week.

Visted RSPB Arne in Dorset yesterday: the gorse was in flower in many parts of the heath, and I also saw some common heather, bell heather, and some hedge woundwort. #wildflowerhour

Listening to the sounds of Autumn in the Chilterns. (the fall . . . )

Sunny stroll in South Oxfordshire today. Names in ALT text. #wildflowerhour #thewinterten

#wildfungihour #wildflowerhour Some colourful specimens found during the last ten days in Oxfordshire. Beefsteak Polypore; Magpie Inkcap; Dyer’s Polypore; Lilac Fibrecap; Witch’s Hat; Chip Cherries (Identified using Seek app -hope names are accurate).

Hedge woundwort, field pansy, and red campion this week. #Wildflowerhour