Viper's Bugloss

Mainly found on sandy and chalk soils, Viper's Bugloss is a hairy plant with dense spikes of bright blue, funnel-shaped flowers. Found on chalk grassland, sand dunes, cliffs and disturbed ground, it is in bloom from May to September. It provides food for a range of insects including Buff-tailed and Red-tailed Bumblebees, Large Skipper and Painted Lady Butterflies, Honey Bees and Red Mason Bees.

I usually look out for these colourful plants when they appear on the dunes in early summer as they usually attract vast numbers of Six Spotted Burnet Moths. This morning it was rather windy so there were few moths around but I promise I will blip them when I get a reasonable image as they are amongst the more attractive moths. Despite the fact that butterflies get most of the attention from photographers in the uk , there are, in fact, about 2400 moths species as against 35 butterfly species.