David

Cow parsley, an early flowering and delicate umbellifer. Also called Queen Anne’s lace.

One stalk of a dandelion which had already shed its seeds was standing proud over the water of the canal.

Holly blue butterflies are a regular April feature along the canal footpath near Compton. This year they seemed even more evident. There was a new one resting either on the ivy in the hedgerow, or on the footpath itself, every ten yards or so.

Peeping out among all the other vegetation, the purple flowers of a vetch – a wildflower member of the pea and bean family,

Comma butterfly spreading and moving its wings to warm itself in the sun. It never quite folded the wings to show the comma mark on the undersides.

Greater celandines, a member of the poppy family. Lesser celandines, which flower somewhat earlier in the spring, are conversely from the buttercup family. It’s hard to spot what they have in common beyond being two of the may wildflowers which have yellow flowers.