It's not just the spectacular or the rare flowers that we love to see in summer and dream of in winter. Not everything is as handsome as Bog Asphodel or Orchids. Common wild flowers are always welcome. Not far from the bog flowers and very close indeed to where the Orchid was flowering recently is the ungrazed area to the west of the track. Wild plants are under threat where livestock graze, and that's particularly the case when the grazers are industrially bred to eat and create meat for the table. So it's wise to look outside the grazing enclosures for the best examples. None of these is a rare plant in fact they are all very common indeed. But when allowed to reach maturity unhampered by the conservation industry they are delightful. Our countryside without them would be a poorer place. Above Mugwort before flowering, below Burdock - another member of the thistle family.
The spike of Common Dock is well worth a closer look.
And there are always grasses which when left alone, singly and in groups, can develop a sculptural elegance that few flowering plants match.
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