Woolly thistle at Salden

Woolly thistle Cirsium eriophorum is a very local species of wild flower found in chalk grassland and scrub. This one was photographed in the disused railway cutting at Salden, to the west of Bletchley, Buckinghamshire. This railway line is due to be re-opened in a few years time to form a new Oxford - Milton Keynes - Cambridge line. Local naturalists are recording the rich wildlife that has colonised the line since it was closed, including some very rare butterflies, in order to campaign for some areas to be protected when the line re-opens.