Marsh Gentian

A cloudy damp early morning walk with the spaniel was enlivened by finding a Marsh Gentian in flower. Outside of the New Forest this is a rather rare plant and we have fewer than twenty on our local nature reserve. This one was in an area where I hadn't found one for several years. These beautiful flowers suffer from several problems - being shaded out by grass and other vegetation, the gradual drying out of the wet heath and grazing.