Pink wildflowers and sagging cliffs

And on that note (see previous post), here are some more pictures of the wildflowers springing up all over the place at the moment.

This is Cuckoo flower, also called Lady’s smock, a plant of damp places. The plants are usually fairly well spaced but you usually see a lot at a time. At this time of year a whole water-meadow for instance can be peppered with these gorgeous pinky-mauve blooms. I actually took this picture next to a neighbour’s stream last week.

Cuckoo flower/Lady's smock next to a stream

This picture shows the lovely colour of the Cuckoo flower/Lady's smock. I'm holding the plant to stop it moving in the wind.

And here is another pink flower – Thrift or Sea pink – on cliffs in East Devon yesterday. I don’t see it on the white chalky cliffs further east. Whether that’s because it prefers this red sandstone or whether it’s because there is less competition here, I don’t know. In spite of the name, it’s not related to the garden Pink.

Thrift/Sea pink, a plant of cliffs (including inland) and salt marshes

It grows in clumps

 

The wind did get to the flower here but at least you can see its exquisite (I'm running out of adjectives) colour and delicate internal striping. Each flower head is made up of a number of individual flowers. 

 

The walk was a little hairy because great cracks were apparent along the cliff edge. There were also many instances of sags and falls - with bits of fence and rabbit burrows hanging in mid-air. The fencing that had remained in the proper place was in a dreadful state of dilapidation. 'They're obviously not bothering to replace it', I said, 'because they don't expect it to be there much longer.'