Lords-and-Ladies

Over the last few weeks the leaves of Lords-and-Ladies Arum maculatum have been abundant under the trees and scrub at Ringstead Downs. Today I noticed that some had spathes appearing and I found two plants with their spathes open to reveal the spadix within. Interestingly, one of the plants had a yellow spadix and the other one had a purple one. Purple is the more common colour for Arum maculatum.

 

 

The butterflies were again enjoying the sunshine. I spotted 43 butterflies on my walk from east to west of the downs, including my first Large White and Holly Blue of the year. The Holly Blue was flying around the ivy along the path by the car park.