Hut Circle: A Last Visit

With the weather a little more cheerful I set off this morning to make a last visit to the hut circle before the bracken buries it until spring of next year. I was kept company while I sat on a convenient rock by....

....a cheery pipit - and it was while I was watching it that the first swift of the summer made a fleeting appearance, its scythe-like wings cutting the blue of the sky.

I couldn't find any of the orchids which were in bloom when last I walked the hut circle track ten days ago but I did find one new heath spotted, as well as some....

.....bugle and....

....this very pretty, delicate flower which, beyond considering it may be a veronica, I have failed to identify.

I also found plenty of is marsh thistle, notable for its deep colours and the symmetry of its leaves.

As I approached home this bird met me with an explosion of song, which enabled the Merlin app to identify it as a male blackcap - which, in its excitement, was hopping around too much for a good picture.