A day to remember

I managed to fit in 4 wild flower wanders in one day, and each one was magical in a different way. 

Walk number one was arranged by the Ranger Service, with Rachel their seasonal ranger  taking the lead.  She brought books and ID charts, she talked about the Big Butterfly Count which Butterfly Conservation organise and which starts any day now, it only takes 15 minutes - why not have a go?

Lovely to have children with us this year, and the deep sward in the Coronation Meadow was a great hiding place. (making sure there were no orchids first of course).

Prasad had found Moonwort in the Toechtamhor garden on a bank which is normally strimmed!  This is a first record for Treshnish, so a great find. 

There may not have been as many Greater Butterfly orchids this year, but some of them were enormous!  Walk number two was enchanted, with Fife based artist and poet. We found a huge patch of Marsh Lousewort in the Black Park. 

The Slender St John's wort is flowering. 

So is the Wood sage.

We stood on the edge of the field by the house, looking over the field below where the cows have been. 

Walk number 3 was the family dog walk in the late afternoon.  The cows have been in this field for nearly 2 weeks, and it was really interesting to see that there were still dozens of flowers.  They do not target them, in the way that the sheep do.

They have had access to the Graveyard field, and there were literally hundreds of Common spotted orchids.  An amazing sight. 

Walk number 4 was in the evening.  We walked through and around the neighbours fields looking back into the Haunn field/Coronation Meadow.  It was pure magic. 

A glorious end to a stunning day.  I feel so blessed. 

However... the day didnt end there, but I will save that for another blog post.  (and link back to it).