The weather could have been a bit kinder but at least it wasn’t raining when twelve of us met at Ranmore Common. The windy conditions weren’t ideal for butterflies but even so we managed to see eleven species including some exquisite, newly emerged, Chalkhill Blues. As usual there was a wealth of flowers ranging from Pyramidal orchids and Clustered Bellflower to Rock Rose, Rest-harrow and, rather surprisingly, a lot of Squinancywort. Last year we saw only a couple of plants of this quaintly named flower so maybe this year’s weather suits it better. The name comes from its former use as a herb for curing quinsy (a bacterial throat infection). There weren’t many birds around but we had good views of Yellowhammer and Buzzard and some caught sight of a Raven.
Local Group
