Long summer days open up the possibility of evening walks when the work of the day is done. Still sunny and the air is warm. Pint at the Half Moon on the way out, and another on the way back.

 

Wild Marjoram (Origanum vulgare) attracting butterflies... 

And bees...

 

 Our grasslands are parched but the wildflowers persist.

 

 Hemlock (Conium maculatum) I believe. Very poisonous, it did for Socrates!

 

 Phacelia tancetifolia sometimes called Fiddleneck. Green manure. Beloved of bees. 

 

 As the drought continues marshy areas are a good habitat to spot wildflowers. Species like Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulumaria) thrive in damp meadows.

 Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) flourishes in marshes, ditches and along the banks of streams, rivers and ponds.

 Walking through the Purwell Ninesprings nature reserve today the effects of the dry summer are evident even here. The chalk stream that runs through it rises nearby and the aquifer itself won't run dry. Nonetheless the area seen above is now a muddy crust whereas it would usually be a submerged part of the flood plain.

 

Psychedelic.