Downland meadow, late summer

The third of the hilltop meadows, which has not been in use for grazing sheep for a number of years, is now covered in drifts of colour: golden ragwort, rich pink rosebay willowherb starting to turn to fluffy seed; the small mauve thistles now mostly fluffy, creamy thistledown. There's clover and yellow bird's foot trefoil, the tall red-brown spikes of seeding docks, and alongside the well-trodden grassy path I've been surprised this year to find a border of pink-purple heather. It was glorious to walk through on a sunny afternoon, alive with tiny butterflies, mostly moving too fast for me to identify let alone photograph, and with bees and hoverflies. This is the furthest point of my circular walk, about 25 minutes from home in either direction (if I didn't keep stopping to take photos!). The extra is a closer view of some of the flowers: these are my last Wildflower Week entries for the year, with thanks to Miranda for the dedicated hosting of this lovely seasonal challenge, and a last-minute entry for the World Photography Day landscape challenge.

J was with her PA S, enjoying wet watercolour painting and expert arm massage, so as well as a walk I had time for lots of harvesting: raspberries, a big box of cavallo nero, some of which I prepared for lunch, a big bowl of fat cucumbers, some small cauliflowers, the first small aubergine, another kilo of Cristal tomatoes and a meal's worth of fine dwarf beans. We ate lots of our vegetables for lunch and dinner, with raspberries for dessert, and I stewed a big bowl of windfall apples with the less perfect raspberries. I love this time of year, though it's hard to keep up with the harvesting, preparing and preserving.