Musk Thistle

Pete and I made an early start for today's survey, aiming to complete our work before the intense afternoon heat. The morning was quite pleasant - surprisingly breezy in this Lincolnshire river valley and with some cloud cover - but by lunchtime things had really heated up, making scrambling over fences and up steep slopes seem very exhausting!

There were several patches of Musk Thistle on the site, but this bloom was particularly perfect. It's a biennial, or sometimes perennial, herb, typically found on chalk, limestone or lime-enriched soils, but also occurring on sandy or shingly ground. It is found in rough, often overgrazed or recently established pastures, on roadsides and in disturbed places. While still locally common, it's shown a moderate decline in Great Britain since 1987. It's an excellent plant for pollinators and was attracting both bumblebees and Small Skipper butterflies.