Proliferous pink

This isn't the best photograph of the day by any means, but it is the most surprising.

Pete and were working in part of Thetford Forest, on the western edge of the Brecks. As a botanist I always find it exciting to visit that part of the world, as it has a very high concentration of rare plant species, thanks to the sandy soils and continental climate which give conditions akin to the steppe regions of eastern Europe.

Our survey area yielded one species that I'd not previously seen, sulphur cinquefoil Potentilla recta, which is a very attractive species that has become naturalised in many areas of dry grassland in the area. Other rare and local species included abundant hoary cinquefoil Potentilla argentea and occasional patches of mossy stonecrop Crassula tillaea, both of which thrive best on acid free-draining soils.

We had an hour to spare at the end of our survey, so headed off to a nearby Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserve that we'd never previously visited. This well managed site had a superb area of grasss heath, with a significant population of the very rare Spanish catchfly Silene otites, which was still in full flower. I had seen this species once before, but it must have been over 25 years ago! Despite the strong breeze and rather low light conditions I managed to get a few passable shots.

As the skies became darker, we decided it would be prudent to head back to the car. As we were heading back we spotted many plants with tiny pink flowers (only about 5mm) topping narrow wiry stems. I'd certainly never seen anything like it, but decided that it must be some sort of pink. This photograph was taken under extremely low light levels but gives a good feel of its character. We discovered that it was proliferous pink Petrorhagia prolifera, a critically endangered species with only two sites in the UK! What were the chances of coming across it purely by chance?