My anticipated final opportunity of the season to show people the
amazing floral display at Killinallan was looking like being thwarted by RAIN!
again, another damp Sunday.
However I had already been out there on the
Thursday before for our 'Mini-wildlife Adventure' and knew there was much to
see. The rain was however going to clear
not far off 2pm so I waited and low and behold a determined family arrived to
participate on the walk...hurrah! And
five minutes past 2 it was dry.
Across the saltmarsh were a few new species in flower since last visit, Sea Spurrey which had been flowering on Thursday was now thin on the ground though I did find one in flower.
The full moon has brought on some high tides which I expect has knocked the flowers back.
There was a nice amount of Glasswort, once you got your eye in and still flowering were the Sea Arrow-grass which tastes of coriander and not to be confused with the sea plantain which has some equally non-descript flowers.
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| Glasswort |
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| Sea Spurrey |
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| Sea Arrow-grass |
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| Sea Plantain |
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| Harebell |
In the dunes the carpet of colour was interspersed since July's
visit with a peppering of blue and purple flowers which weren't out a month
ago; Harebell, Devil's bit Scabious and Autumn Gentian.
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| Devil's Bit Scabious |
Many of the orchids were now passed however
there were plenty of Frog orchid still well in flower and through the wetter
dune slack area we still saw a range of quality blooms of the Common Twayblade
and after a bit of searching we did find some remaining flowers of the Marsh Helleborine
although these were definitely past their splendour of early July.
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| Common Twayblade |
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A large Frog Orchid developing large seed pods
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It was a windy day so capturing the flowers in mid sway was
a little tricky and insects were few, but enjoy the display and if you have some spare time for a
walk get along to the dunes in the next week or so, to soak up the splendour of
flowers in the back end of the season.
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| Patchwork of colour with Autumn Gentian |
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| Red clover |
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| Carder Bumblebee visiting Scabious |
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| Marsh Pennywort |
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| Wild Thyme |
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| with resting dung fly! |
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| Grass of Parnassus |
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| Black Bog Rush and Common Twayblade |
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| Self Heal |
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| dissolving Shaggy Inkcap on cattle dung |
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| Common Knapweed |
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| fly on Harebell |
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| Bug eye-view of Eyebright and Red Clover |
More flowers and sights to be had next Sunday at The Battery Bowmore 2pm.
Fiona MacG
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