Yellow Teasel - Cherry Hinton

An early start to survey Cherry Hinton Pit NR (see extra) before it became uncomfortably hot. The roads were clear and I was at the site by 8 a.m., only to find my usual parking place occupied by a whole assemblage of emergency vehicles including a fire engine, two incident support vehicles and several ambulances. I turned round and parked elsewhere, wondering whether I would actually be able to carry out my survey or whether I'd have to go straight back to Peterborough.

By the time I got to the site entrance on foot, the air ambulance had left. The emergency personnel said it was fine to visit the site so I heaved a sigh of relief. I later found out that someone had fallen off one of the cliffs. The tops are securely fenced so presumably they'd climbed up from the bottom (even though there are plenty of notices warning people of the dangers) and the chalk had crumbled away. 

I'd finished my initial survey by midday, and on my way back to the car I stopped to photograph Yellow Teasel at it classic location on the edge of Lime Kiln Close. This native of Russia was introduced into cultivation in Britain in 1820. It was collected at Cherry Hinton in 1828 and is still naturalised in this area. It may have originated from the Cambridge Botanic Garden. It's looks rather similar to Small Teasel but is much taller, has yellowish tinged flowers, and yellowish rather than black anthers.