Astrantia

Another set of exams this morning for Ben, which meant that once again I headed off to record plants, this time around the village of Grimsthorpe. The weather was cool and blustery, with intermittent rain. I had intended to try and record in another area, but after a fairly hefty shower I decided that I'd had enough and headed to Rassal's Nursery where I browsed the plants, including this wonderfully low-key Astrantia, and treated myself to a hot cup of fruit tea and a chocolate orange brownie, which was suitably moist and delicious.

The afternoon was spent surveying more of Castor and Ailsworth, and although it was very windy, the rain held off. Highlights of the day were a ditch containing Lesser Spearwort, Parsley-leaved Water-dropwort and Common Yellow-sedge (all very uncommon locally), a spring-fed pond heaving with dragonflies and a scattering of rare arable weeds on one of the field margins.