Me and my shadow...

I seem to have been on the go all day today. I started off with a fairly early dog walk - partly to try and find a rear lens cap that must have dropped out of my bag yesterday evening. No success with that, but I saw the first large skipper of the year, and came across this lovely female beautiful demoiselle basking in the morning sun. I particularly liked the lacy shadow of her wing on the reeds.

Then back for breakfast before driving down to my Bedfordshire meadow to complete Tuesday's quadrats. By the time we got there it was really quite hot and humid, not the best weather for concentrating very hard on grassland. But I found my phone - just where I thought it would be!!

Chris had accompanied me to help with the survey, and we finished a little after three, giving us enough time for a quick visit to Sharpenhoe Clappers, a steep chalk scarp, part of the Chiltern Hills. Much of it was either occupied by scrub or beech hanger, but we did find a rather lovely grassland slope jewelled with fragrant, common spotted and pyramidal orchids - not to mention sainfoin, common milkwort, horseshoe vetch and quaking grass. After the fens it felt quite strange being up so high and looking out over the rolling Bedfordshire landscape.

This evening I've been supervising revision and have just dropped Chris and Pete off at Orton Pit, where they're mapping the distribution of a rare moth. I shall go and collect them at midnight, before collapsing into bed for a well earned rest.

Thanks so much to everyone who commented on yesterday's damselfly. We're very lucky to have them breeding in our largest pond - they certainly add something to the flower beds!