In search of bog beans

I had a very instructive walk across the Common today with Margaret, one of our botanical specialists. She had told me that there were plenty of bog bean plants growing in areas hitherto un-colonised by them, but I had reported back saying I couldn't find them. This was because I didn't know what the leaves look like: I'd only noticed the flowers before.

So we trudged across the very wet fen to the bog bean area, and true enough, there are many plants there. I also learned what meadowsweet, quaking grass and valerian look like. There are still quite a few orchids in flower, but the cotton grass show has been very poor again this year.

We were also very pleased to see at least four common lizards on the boardwalk: they were very nervous of sound or movement, but this one did stay still long enough for a snap:

In the same area (the section between Warren Road and the Beck), we had a brief view of a small copper butterfly:

Whilst we were in the area, we checked under a few of the refuges set out for our reptile survey. As before, no reptiles were at home, but we found lots of snails, some beetles and woodlice. And under two of them were hiding young toads: here's one of them.