Floral Gigantism

...found (well, Dai Morris, the reserve warden, pointed me in the right direction again) a rather unusual case of floral gigantism in a Wood Anemone (Anemone nemorosa) in Bishops Wood nature reserve, Gower, UK. I hate those shots with a tape measure in them to indicate the size of an object - so I didn't. For those who really 'need' to know: instead of the usual 25mm or so, the flower of this one measured more than 60 mm across. But I think the context of the other, normal-sized anemones shows very nicely the dimensions of this giant - it would put some decent sized daffodils to shame.
What a feast for the pollinators!

Billions of butterflies

This year the UK has been invaded by an army of painted lady butterflies. The painted lady is a summer migrant, flying from Europe and North Africa. The conditions in North Africa this year were superb and the adults, strong fliers, have dispersed through Europe. Scientists estimate that one billion painted ladies will be on the wing in the UK in August, some having flown over from Europe and others emerging from pupae from the first arrivals back in June.
Its a bumper year for the Painted Lady and other common species such as the Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral and Meadow Browns but sadly, others are not doing so well - fritillaries for example. Its not due to competition with other butterfly species, but habitat loss.
On the butterfly conservation website (http://www.butterfly-conservation.org) you can log your sightings of this butterfly as well as those of the humming-bird hawkmoth. This moth is a day flying species that is often seen sipping nectar from flowers using its extra ong proboscis. It gets its name from the way it hovers in front of the flower, just like a hummingbird.