Yellow Rattle. ( Rhinanthus minor )

Its Saturday so we know what I will have been doing.  The leaving guests had left the place immaculate, however to be sure you always have to go through the routine and do a full clean.  As always it was a case of looking for a blip before we left.  I decided on a record shot rather than the flowers.

Rattle also known by conservationists as "the meadow maker" is a hemi parasitic plant (hemiparasitic in that it gets some nutrients from other plants, in this case grass but can still photosynthesise).  It weakens grasses in the meadow and so makes it easier for the flowers to compete.  It is known as Rattle because it does!  The seed pods shown in the shot are thin and papery the weeds rattle inside when the stem is moved.