Butterwort.

This afternoon I had a run out looking for a particular plant which I hoped might be flowering.  Sadly either it has gone or wasn't in flower.  As I searched the roadside verge I came across quite a number of these Butterwort  (Pinguicula vulgaris).

This species is  one of the few Butterworts which needs acid conditions, world wide most need poor alkaline soils.  In the past I have generally found this plant on the mountains.  I certainly didn't expect to find it in a roadside ditch.

Butterwort are insectivorous but not as spectacular in their action as Sundew or the foreign Venus Flytrap.  These plants were just over the hedge from an SSSI.  I have never been told why it is an SSSI but I suspect it is because the area is clearly acid when the underlying rock (which comes to the surface only a few hundred yards away is Limestone.