Nature Reserve management

Today's work on a local nature reserve involved some very dirty clearing out of an old barn, followed after tea and biscuits break by some extremely muddy drainage work to try to keep a path clear of mud!

But also we were tasked to search a very large field for the presence of the Common Spotted Orchid which is apparently in decline due to habitat loss. So we were very pleased to find two examples of this plant.

I could have cropped the picture more, or used a clearer close-up, but I quite like this one as it is, showing something of the habitat. A blue sky would have been good.

Ella is doing fine, by the way. Thanks for all the comments.