Fritillary count

I was up fairly early, as Alex was off to work at 8am. It was a gorgeous morning, so once he'd left I went down to Thorpe Meadows to see if the snake's-head fritillaries were flowering. I'd been just over a week ago and there'd been no sign of them.

Today I was in luck. They were flowering perfectly, still beaded with early morning dew. I walked all round the fields where the grow, and counted over sixty plants. This is a 50% increase on the previous highest count - really pleasing. I was also pleased to find all the usual associates, including cowslips, cuckooflower, great burnet and adder's-tongue fern. Spring has certainly changed gear - orange tip, speckled wood and holly blue were all on the wing today, and at last the garden is teeming with bees and hoverflies.