UMBELS

I think this is Hogweed, though I have difficulty distinguishing the various umbelliferous plants from each other. After failing with my wildflower book, I went scrabbling around in Google to get information only to find this in a natural history illustrator's blog: "My main conclusion is that telling the difference between similar members of the cow-parsley family can be super-tricky, especially when references and sources disagree!" Not just me, then.

Apart from that it was uncomfortably chilly and grey so I didn't blame the birds and insects for hiding. It's not much warmer at home - I've got five layers on at the moment and I'm still not quite warm enough, but I have to get into training for next winter, like everyone else.