Big Meadow Search 2025 starts today until 31st August. Everyone welcome, you dont need to be an expert, just record species you know. Please help us add more sites to the map. There will be daily plant ID or plant association posts to look out for.

Lesser Burdock, Arctium minus. Up to 130cm. Well-branched, furrowed stem. Lower leaves with hollow stem. Leaves up to 40cm, longer than wide . Clusters of reddish-purple flower heads, each up to 32mm across. Flower heads at various levels

I see lots of Dingy Footman moths in the daytime, out in the open with no hint of camouflage and have thought it odd. Saw this dried willow leaf today and thought there was some similarity!

Ivy-leaved Bellflower, Wahlenbergia hederacea. Near Threatened status. Up to 30cm. Thread-like stems. Alternate, stalked, angular leaves up to 10mm. Solitary pale blue flower. Short, narrow calyx teeth.

Common Knapweed playing host to a larva of Cassida rubiginosa, Tortoise Beetle, who in turn is playing host to a species of mite (the tiny red blobs). The black ‘shield’ on the larva’s back is made of frass and discarded skins and provides protection

RT @wildflower_hour: Is there a wildflower more evocative of long summer days than the beautiful Harebell?! Campanula rotundifolia is of co….

Buff Arches, Habrosyne pyritoides. Adults fly late June to August. Overwinters as a pupa in underground cocoon. Larval food plants are Bramble and Dewberry

Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta. Adults feed on nectar from Hawthorn and Blackthorn followed later in year by a range of plants including Common Fleabane, Wild Teasel, Buddleja, Bramble, thistles and then Hemp-agrimony and Ivy.

The Botanical Society of Scotland’s Plant of the week is Black Horehound.

Clovers: take a look at the upper surface of leaves for the leaf-mine of the Agromyza nana fly

Thank you #wildflowerhour for making me take a closer look at plants with your varied challenges. This one was Gorse

Another clue

For #wildflowerhour and the #HairyPlant challenge…,how about guessing what this one is? 🤔

Thyme Broomrape, Orobanche alba. Up to 25cm. Dark orange-red, stocky stem. Reddish scales at stem base. Inflorescence has only a few flowers. Parasitic on Wild Thyme. Grows on rocky habitats. (Distribution map from online BSBI 2020 Plant Atlas)

Common Hemp-nettle, Galeopsis tetrahit. Up to 100cm. Hispid. Widely branching stems, swollen below nodes. Coarsely-toothed leaves. Calyx has 5 teeth tipped with a spine. Hooded upper lip of corolla, 3- lobed lower lip. Dark markings on central lobe, stop well clear of the tip.

Never seen a Devil’s Coach Horse beetle (Ocypus olens) off the ground before. Maybe this was a new strategy to spot prey! Ocypus means swift foot and olens means smelling after the secretory glands on the abdomen

Bulrush, Typha latifolia. Up to 300cm. Flat, glaucous leaves up to 25mm wide. Male flower head at top, dark brown female flower head below. Usually no gap between but sometimes there is a gap of up to 25mm between them.

Spotted a number of these tiny flies on Cinnabar moth larvae. Majority had heads down towards the larva body and tail up. Seemed like deliberate activity rather than randomly having landed on them. Never seen it before. Any thoughts anybody? Thanks.@NHM_Diptera @flygirlNHM

Alsike Clover, Trifolium hybridum. Typically to 40cm. Fairly erect stems. Large stipules up to 25mm, with green veins, gradually taper to a point. Flower head stalks are leafless. Flowers usually whitish with pink base. Side veins on leaves branch 1-3 times.

What a whopper! Greater Plantain, Plantago major. The books (Collins, Rose, Harrap, Poland and WildGuide) all say leaves are up to 15cm. These were about 28cm 🤔

RT @wildflower_hour: Some are stellate, glandular, forked, simple or branched. What are? I hear you ask! Hairs!This week’s challenge is to….