Hirsute...

I seem to have spent much of the day catching up with e-mails and proof-reading reports, but I found time this morning to pop up to Barnack Hills and Holes NNR, to make my annual pilgrimage to visit the pasque flowers Pulsatilla vulgaris.

This perennial herb is widely grown in gardens, but is also a rare native species, restricted to less than twenty sites on shallow chalk or limestone soils. At Barnack it grows preferentially on the steepest slopes, normally south or south-west facing. Individual plants are long-lived and mostly reproduce vegetatively.

It normally flowers between the 6th April and 20th May, but like everything else, it's late this year, having only just started to bloom. The common name refers to the fact that it is often in flower around Easter-time.

It thrives best when the sward is short: sheep-grazing is an important part of the management regime. At Barnack the population runs into thousands. It used to occur on several other local sites, but populations were very small and periods without appropriate management led to its eventual demise.

Unsurprisingly I took many images of this beautiful purple flower, whose centre is filled with a crowd of bright yellow stamens. But I kept returning to this side view, which shows the soft furry coat and the elegant shape of the flowers. It looks almost cuddly!