Martians

...yesterday's rain continued all night and nearly all day. By the time we had finished watching Radwanska get her act together and make Williams work for her money, it had turned to drizzle, so we set off for a damp but pleasant stroll on Hartland Moor.

This mixture of dry and wet heath, supports a wide range of interesting plants, particularly as it is split into an alkaline half and an acidic half. Once again, I was looking for one thing but found something else. In one of the alkaline boggy areas, I came across a wonderful display of these Southern Marsh Orchids Dactylorhiza praetermissa surrounded by a show of Lychnis flos-cuculi that was looking more bedraggled than ragged!

I took a group shot of the orchids and a few close-ups but, when I uploaded them, I discovered that one of the flowers in the centre of the spike on the close-ups had been half eaten by some invertebrate. Consequently, this is a crop from the group.

By the way, it is pouring with rain again now...