Another beautiful Dandelion, but this time with some other pesky plant getting in the way 😉 #DandelionChallenge #WildflowerHour #adderstongue wildflowerhour

The beauty of the Dandelion #DandelionCallenge #WildflowerHour wildflowerhour

I just love how Cowslips brighten the roadside at this time of year. These looked amazing on a Dorset verge this week. #CowslipChallenge #wildflowerhour wildflowerhour

Sadly, yet another compromised orchid habitat. This is a well known White Helleborine site Tesco in Winchester. Car park ‘improvements’ have seriously damaged the area, although some hardy individuals (of a species in serious decline) are pushing up through the new bark mulch 😢

More Adder action. That possessive male warning off an interloper ! #snake #adder #viper

A lovely morning spent watching Adders - including one male possessively guarding ‘his’ female and chasing off any other nearby males. My first time seeing Adders ‘dance’. With thanks to nicholas galley #adder #snake #viper

This colour never gets old ! A wood full of Bluebells is one of the world’s great nature spectacles 💜 #nofilter

The amazing Horse Chestnut candelabra are just starting to bloom in my ‘neck of the woods’, just in time for #TreeFlowers #WildflowerHour wildflowerhour

Well, I wasn’t expecting to see this in flower this weekend. Everyone’s favourite Dorset hybrid. #orchid #woodcock #hybrid Britain's Orchids Wild Orchids UK & Ireland

Snake’s-head Fritillaries mostly finished but a few still hanging on in this oh so beautiful churchyard. #fritillary #snakeshead

I went looking for Snake’s-head Fritillaries - they were mostly finished but I did find this beautiful Orchis mascula, my first of the year and in such a lovely location. #orchid #earlypurple

This is a lovely beast, but I’m mostly posting it because it has such a cool name - Mediterranean Slant-faced Grasshopper (nymph) 😎 #grasshopper #insect #malta

The beautiful Paper Wasp, on the equally beautiful structure it’s created on a Prickly Pear … still posting photos from Malta 😁 #wasp #insect #malta

Anguis fragilis - eyeballed by a particularly ancient looking individual (apparently they can live up to 30 years in the wild) - there have been slow worms in my parents’ garden as long as I can remember, so there must be some old ones. #slowworm #reptile

The amazing Red Palm Weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus). Quite a beast at about an inch and a half long. Unfortunately it’s an invasive species causing a lot of problems in the Mediterranean, but impressive nonetheless. #insect #weevil

Back in the U.K. now but cheering myself by reviewing all my orchid photos from Malta. Here is some of the colour variation found in the Maltese Pyramidal Orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis subsp. urvilleana). Beautiful. #orchid #malta #pyramidal

Lovely view of Hurst Castle and Normandy Lagoon on the way into Bournemouth Airport this morning! English Heritage Ryanair

Bee orgy ! Bees (Eucera sp.) engaging in pseudocopulation with a Bumblebee Orchid (Ophrys bombyliflora), showing the successful pollination strategy of the orchid (one of the bees already has pollinia attached). Three bees compete to ‘mate’ with the orchid flower. #orchid

The six beautiful orchids that have kept me company in Malta for the last few days: Scented Bug, Mirror, Maltese Pyramidal, Bumblebee, Small-flowered Tongue and Maltese Spider 😍😍 #orchid #orchid #beautiful

Monday’s Maltese orchid - the Bumblebee Orchid (Ophrys Bombyliflora) - in some places found in great profusion 😍