Most of the major road verges around here have been mown but on some of the unmolested minor roads and farm tracks there are fine displays of wild flowers - like this handsome patch of giant bellflower Campanula latifolia in a farm gateway near Wolsingham.
This was the finest specimen of spotted orchid that I've seen this year, growing all on its own beside a minor road near Crook. This was the only spotted orchid that I spotted along a mile of verge - all on its own. But that's the magic of orchids - their minute wind-blown seeds can land almost anywhere.
The same verge hosted masses of tufted vetch Vicia cracca, climbing up through the hedgerow and a great attraction for bumblebees.
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