Harebells

Furbie had her first visit to our local vet, Jamie, this morning.  She had been spayed and inoculated by her previous owner, and she needed her booster. Jamie is a local lad, who was marvellously sensitive when I had to take Sparkie on her final journey.  He was equally wonderful with Furbie who was, not surprisingly, as good as gold.

As it was sunny, and pleasantly warm, I headed off to Pipe Hall Farm Woodland Trust to make my annual Big Butterfly Count. There were plenty of woodland butterflies - Speckled Woods, Meadow Browns, Skippers, Gatekeepers, and the usual array of whites.  No blues, or reds (and Peacocks used to be a feature there).

They are doing "maintenance" in the main wildflower field. This seems to consist of three big burly blokes smoking by huge tractors and big filled bags (I wasn't brave enough to take a photo). I overheard a hilarious conversation when the two older ones were taking to task the youngster who didn't know the difference between the words "miscellaneous" and "amphibious"  (It's just as well we're all well away from the coast!)

They are seriously thinning out the meadow (hopefully avoiding the skylarks who should have fledged by now).

As I walked through, still searching for the blues, I noticed a different splash of blue, deep in the deep grass. Harebells - I haven't been aware of any for years. I have the garden variety of Campanula at home but these seemed very different and with a beauty all of their own. If they aren't harebells, please let me know. 

Have a great weekend, blippers.