The Lyons Share

We've spent the whole day getting to know the New Forest today and with such rubbish weather, we concentrated on plants. I added 7 species to my list and some of them were very nice. The carnivorous plants stole the show though and I was particularly pleased to find some Lesser Bladderwort. Another tick for me was this Great Sundew covered in its dinner, flies caught on its leaves! We also saw some Pale Butterwort, only the second time I have seen it but the photos didn't come out so well.

We then went on to look at a number of ponds and I saw some less bloody-thirsty species. This includes the rare Hampshire Purslane in a couple of places as well as Floating Water-plantain and Lesser Marshwort (photos in that order), again all new for me. Sadly, several sites were completely choked with New Zealand Pygmyweed.

I've also seen a lot of plants I have seen only occasionally like Marsh St Johnswort (which is everywhere) and Pillwort, it's really great! I'm impressed by how common Redstarts are here too. I also heard Firecrest and Wood Warbler singing at the same time, might be the only place this is likely to occur in the UK? We didn't see a lot of insects today but I did see a few Silver-studded Blues and this dead Stag Beetle.