Distant fen vista

After a morning trip to Orton Pit to finish off the stonewort survey, Chris and I headed back to Vine House Farm to do some recording. 

During my visit last week the owner had said he had a rare goosefoot on his farm, and today we were trying to re-find this. He took us to its supposed location, but everything that we could find eventually proved to be a much commoner relative. Nevertheless we made lots of additional records including some moderately local species.

All around us the harvest was being gathered in, and if you look carefully at this distant view of the flat fen horizon you can see the clouds of dust that surround every combine harvester. The harsh lines of the monochrome fens contrast nicely with my extra, the mauve flowers of Phacelia against a sweep of golden barley.