Crazy gorse

A very hot day monitoring an area of habitat restoration in a sandpit today. Lots of insect activity, but not much time for photography. I was rather amused by the gorse bushes. For years rabbit grazing has kept them as tightly trimmed cones (like the one in the foreground), but over the last couple of years some branches have managed to escape the grazing pressure and are now exploding from the top of the cones. This was one of the most extreme examples and looks just like a piece of topiary. In the long term these exuberant shoots will have to be cut back, as uncontrolled seeding gorse will threaten the developing acid grassland.