Saturday walk on the Mendips

Once again we headed for Draycott Sleights with the majority of our walking visiting the tumuli, and Rodney Stoke National Nature Reserve.

I wanted to walk into the Draycott reserve just a short way to see how the wild flowers had changed since we went about a week ago.

On top of this the thin soil supported a 'host of blue scabious'

On the Rodney Stoke side of the reserve, the scabious continued to colonise the limestone 'rockeries'

We explored the grasslands over the settlement and then descended into Rodney Stoke Nature Reserve.

Here the Dolomitic Conglomerate was covered with grassland with many different wild herbs and flowers.  The Marjoram was in full flower, and there were healthy areas dominated by the Betony: Stachys officinalis.

There were lots of different sized blue butterflies, but all too fast for me.  I just about managed to get a shot of this one, which I found out later, is called Marbled White.

Down at the start of the woods the first hint of some of its specials: Nettle leaved Bell Flower

There were some wood ant nests as large as any ant nest I have ever seen, but there were so many ants milling along the path, that I chose to move on swiftly.

I wonder if animals or insects come to drink from this little pool nestling in this oak tree?

Once out of the woods, we took a path up a hill where sheep quietly grazed.  We were really pleased that there was a bench, put there by the farm, which we took full advantage of for five minutes, admiring the views.