Seeds of Stemless Thistle

I finally made it to South Lincolnshire - a solo jaunt to Robert's Field NR hunting for Autumn Gentian, last recorded there in 1983, It didn't take me long to find the first one and in the end I found over 150, with some in each of the four monads contained within the reserve. I'm not sure that I've ever seen such robust specimens, some reaching 40cm in height (see extra), though they were rather cryptic among the surrounding grassland.


Other interesting species recorded included a couple of patches of Stemless Thistle, one of which had this beautiful seed head, a bush of Sweet-briar  and a patch of Trailing Tormentil.