Lesser water-plantain

Not much of a photographic day today. After early rain, Pete and I hoped the weather would improve, and went out to King's Dyke Nature Reserve. I was hunting for a locally rare plant and Pete was hoping to do some more of an ongoing invertebrate survey.

Alas, our optimism was unfounded, and we hadn't been there long before the first of the day's showers began. The combination of heavy overcast skies, rain and a stiff breeze meant that I took very few photographs, and there were only two blip contenders tonight. But it's still taken me ages to decide!

This is a flower of lesser water-plantain Baldellia ranunculoides, a rather scarce plant that grows in shallow, often peaty. Like many wetland plants it's become much scarecer as a result of draiange and nutrient enrichment. Here it was growing in a small, relatively recently created pool along with bladder-wort Utricularia vulgaris. I love the simplicity of this flower, which is white with just the faintest flush of lilac. If seen in large you can see the almost crystalline effect of the large cells.

The rain forced us to return home early, very damp! During the course of the day the showers became increasingly heavy so we gave up any ideas of further fieldwork and took the opportunity to pop out and do some shopping in preparation for our impending trip to Orkney! I hope the weather improves quickly - Chris and Alex have gone down to Dorset to visit a friend and Pete and I have fieldwork booked in the morning...

Once again I'm struggling to keep up with all your lovely comments. I've been feeling quite tired lately - not uncommon in the middle of the field season! But at least the toothache has finally gone - I resorted to antibiotics - the first time for many, many years - but have been impressed at how quickly they've done the trick.