Thank you!

Green-winged orchids arrived last week in a few Cambridgeshire meadows, this one was particularly photogenic 🙂
Many were still just shoots!
#WildflowerHour
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There are swathes of Garlic Mustard that have bloomed recently in our local country park, and a few of them have various six-legged visitors...
🐞
#WildflowerHour #CabbageFamily

I am looking to add some sites to this.
I'm going to add Paxton Pits, because of the Grizzled Skippers.
Where else should I add?
Ferry Meadows in Peterborough for another urban site, perhaps?
Or somewhere else in the Fens? There a whole load of the county missing out

Find a flower with 4 free petals arranged in a cross shape & you’ve found a member of the Brassicaceae! It’s a huge family & the challenge this week for #Wildflowerhour is to find a wild or naturalised member of the #CabbageFamily in flower. Share your finds this Sunday 8-9pm!

Thanks Helen, the light was perfect 🙂

Thanks Rebecca 🙂

Thanks!

Thanks Jill 🙂

Another for the #WoodlandPlants challenge - the first Early Purple orchids of the season for me in a Cambs. woodland.
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Gorgeous light for a very common plant for this week's #WildflowerHour challenge, #WoodlandPlants, the Bluebell 🙂
But did you know that almost half the global population grows in the UK?
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As the 🌞 came out I thought I'd get a few photos of our county flower - the gorgeous Pasqueflower...
The vivid, purple petals are actually sepals!
These are in Cambs, but the ones just over the border in Herts will be amazing at the moment. Maybe the weather will still be nice at the weekend... 🤞

Hawthorn just coming into blossom, Cambridge.

I think they're present in most of the Cambs. Hundreds - Waresley and Grandson, Potton, Gamlingay, Hardwick, Hayley Woods to name a few. Overhall Grove is usually good as well. These were actually growing just outside Hayley Wood, but it reopened last week.
Good luck 🤞

For this week's #WildflowerHour #CowslipChallenge, here is a comparison of Cowslip and Oxlip.
Taken on the same day at an ancient Cambs. woodland this week.
I posted an Oxlip photo in the British Wildflowers FB group, and many commented that they were Cowslips!
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Awesome!

Cherry Plum blossom for this week's #WildflowerHour challenge, #TreeFlowers

We have an Amelanchier Lamarckii that is ablaze with blossom in our garden, for this week's #WildflowerHour challenge, #TreeFlowers

Oxlips are appearing in our local ancient woodland in Cambs.
#WildflowerHour.

Wow!
Do you know how old it is?!
In Cambridgeshire there are only small pockets of ancient woodland left now, sadly. This single flower was in Leicestershire - first one in flower for me this year, which I found when I visited my parents.

Around half of the world’s bluebells occur in the UK, giving these woods real global significance.
In folklore, however, they were better known for their links to fairies - and a habit of leading wanderers astray.
#storyplants #wildflowerhour

For this week's #WildflowerHour challenge, #storyplants, I give you Wood Anemone.
Wood anemones spread so incredibly slowly (just a few feet per century), large carpets of them can indicate woodland that’s been present for many hundreds of years.
“Anemone” comes from Greek for windflower.

A white Sweet Violet for this week's #WildflowerHour challenge, #WhiteFlowers.
A small colony grow in our local park, amongst thousands of violet violets 🙂
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Can you find any wild or naturalised plants that have white blooms? That’s the #wildflowerhour challenge this week! Share your finds this Sunday 8-9pm using the hashtag #WhiteFlowers. Happy flower hunting!
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Oh dear! They looked pretty savage - at least you recovered your glasses 🙂

Oh no!
I hope you don't end up in the brambles!

Good advice 😅
It was perfectly dry when I visited last Thursday, but still very little grip!

Thanks Rebecca.
They're quite a tricky shot on such a steep, slippery slope!

I took a day off earlier this week to go and see the Giant orchids near Oxford.
A few more years / centuries before they're considered naturalised, I guess!
Great to see them, whatever their origin.
#WildflowerHour
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Cherry Plum, Blackthorn and Apple are all in blossom in and around Cambridge, but the real #SignsofSpring are that I got Clockwork (my fair weather bike) out of hibernation, and serviced it ready for summer botanising 🙂
#WildflowerHour