Thistle

Possibly a Marsh Thistle - Cirsium Palustre - common in the western isles. When I was looking through the shots taken earlier it was interesting to see how purple this flower is compared to the pink of other thistles, (having spent time looking for information about thistles I see the colour can vary from pink to purple and sometimes white). Also the tiny cluster of closed heads surrounding the flower, there are more than twelve on this one. (Similar to the arrangement to the fox and cubs blip a few days ago). The thistle leaves are long and narrow some extending downwards, note the purple tip.

And it's 'Prickly'

When I first looked at the shot it didn't look real, the cluster of heads look as though they had been made from plastic, or similar to a fruit sweet I remember as a child. We like to grow thistles to attract bees and insects in the summer and small birds to feed from later in the year. Apparently Palustre means boggy, the thistle above is not growing in a boggy area but it could be to do with the occasional rain fall we have on the west coast.