Firstly, thanks for the comments so far - appreciate the help and interesting facts, so keep 'em coming. Today was all about grass id with a splash of royalty. Took our first steps as a class into the world of Gramineae which I have to say is a lot more interesting than it sounds. Went out into our survey site to put our brand spanking new skills into practice and id'd cock's foot, red fescue, hairy brome and meadow foxtail. They were fairly young little chaps so not fully developed. This is what we thought was the meadow foxtail:
My team mates' fantastic Francis Rose keying out of this little Daisy led us to discover the wonder of Pineappleweed which I had never previously heard of (smells like pineapple and looks like a daisy, awesome):
We were also treated to a romantic display by a pair of orange tip butterflies whilst foraging in the grass. Note the female does not have orange tips but has black dots (thanks James):
Unfortunately her royal duchessness, Camilla PB, who blessed our college today and opened a gate or something was not interested in my photos of grass and flowers and decided to park her helicopter on top of this wondrous stuff instead. Fortunately they moved the sheep just in time...
You make me laugh a lot Cally! Who'd have thought a blog about grass and fornicating insects would have been so good?! :o)
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