Devil's-bit

After conveying Alex to Dogsthorpe Star Pit to do hay-raking and scrub-clearance with the Wildlife Trust, I visited Sainsbury's and then spent the rest of the the morning entering data. When I eventually collected him from the site he was quite exhausted - the start of the management season always finds all those muscles that aren't required for survey work!

Towards the end of the afternoon Chris and I went up to Castor Hanglands, which was strangely quiet except for a squabbling mass of nuthatches and a pair of mewing buzzards. Hornets were still hunting over the damp grassland, where there was also a very prolific stand of the deep purple flowers of devil's-bit scabious.

The name 'scabious' derives from 'scabies' - one of the many ailments that flowers bearing this name were supposed to help cure. According to one legend, the Devil grew angry about these medicinal properties and tried to get rid of them by biting the roots off. Hence why this wildflower has short and stubby roots and why it is called 'Devil's-bit' scabious.