2nd Still at the reserve. The reed mace or bull rush is looking like a sentry on guard around the ponds.
Great Reedmace (Typha latifolia) can grow 1.5 - 2.2 m in still or slow moving fresh water. Flowers June - July. The female flower is brown, the male flower is yellow. Leaves are used for basket weaving.
By the car park the grass sounds alive ! It turns out to be the pods of the common birds-foot trefoil popping in the sun. Amongst the grasses I spot large skipper butterfly and a ringlet butterfly.
Large Skipper (Ochlodes venatus) 27-35cm. Inhabites meadows flying from May - August in one or two generations.The caterpillar is mostly green and lives in a silk tube on grasses where it also over winters.
Ringlet butterfly (Aphantopus hyperanthus) 40 -50mm common near woods in most of Britian. in flight June- July.
