Carnivores!

Something wonderfully exotic and strange about the butterworts, now blooming on the bogs near me. The tiny flowers range from pale blue to deep purple and their rosette of leaves are an astonishing acid green. We went for a walk up on the mountain especially to see them.  It was more adventurous than we were planning as we went off piste, lured by butterworts and then had to scramble downwards, knee deep in grasses and gorse. 
We encountered lots of patches of bog which host a surprising variety of flora including the butterworts but also bog cotton, a teeny creamy pansy which I don't remember seeing before, pink lousewort, a myriad of orchids and of course sundews. Butterworts and sundews are both carnivorous. The butterwort has a sticky leaf which curls inwards to trap insects which are then somehow absorbed into the plant- ;look carefully and I think there are quite a few unfortunate bugs stuck on this particular example, Apparently the sticky juicy leaves were once rubbed don the udders of cows to keep away evil/bad luck and thus protect the butter. The sundews also secrete stickiness - little droplets on the hairy bits of their leaves. The insect gets stuck and the leaves close in and ....

After all that, it was still warm and we felt pretty sticky ourselves so went down for a swim. Fresh but getting more bearable.