Category: heathland-p

  • Common Bird’s-foot Trefoil

    Common Bird’s-foot Trefoil

    If you ever wondered how Bird’s-foot Trefoil got its name, you have to wait for the seedpods to appear. Photo: Amanda Scott

  • Pale Butterwort

    Pale Butterwort

    A paler, smaller version of Common Butterwort, the Pale Butterwort is harder to find, but worth the search. Crousa Downs is a good place to look. Photo: Kate Dalziel

  • Bog Asphodel

    Bog Asphodel

    This bright plant of boggy areas on the heathland puts on an amazing display in early summer. Photo: Amanda Scott

  • Pigmy Rush

    Pigmy Rush

    In the early days of summer, look out for diminutive, pink-flushed Pigmy Rush along the ancient trackways of The Lizard. Photo: Amanda Scott

  • Lesser Centaury

    Lesser Centaury

    Look for for Lesser Centaury in summer and early autumn along coastal clifftops. Photo: Steve Townsend

  • Bloody Crane’s-bill

    Bloody Crane’s-bill

    The meadows above Kynance Cove are a good place to see Bloody Crane’s-bill in the summer, following recent habitat restoration and scrub clearance. Photo: Steve Townsend

  • Barren Strawberry

    Barren Strawberry

    Similar at first glance to Wild Strawberry, the pretty Barren Strawberry can be found flowering earlier, from February through to May.  Photo: © Natural England/Peter Wakely

  • Betony

    Betony

    Purple spikes of Betony put on a lovely display along coastal paths in the summer. Photo: Amanda Scott

  • Common Butterwort

    Common Butterwort

    The delicate violet flowers of Common Butterwort can be spotted from May to July in boggier spots on The Lizard. Photo: Jerzy Strzelecki, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 

  • Burnet Rose

    Burnet Rose

    Creamy-white Burnet Roses are everywhere on the coastal heaths from May through to July. Photo: © Natural England/Neil Pike

  • Evening-primrose

    Evening-primrose

    Evening-primrose can be spotted into the autumn in milder weather. Photo: Acabashi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

  • Devil’s-bit Scabious

    Devil’s-bit Scabious

    Noted for being the larval food plant of the nationally rare Marsh Fritillary butterfly, Devil’s-bit Scabious is lovely in its own right. You can find it flowering on Mullion Cliffs […]

  • Wild Thyme

    Wild Thyme

    Wild Thyme is in full bloom on The Lizard in July. Photo: Amanda Scott

  • Yellow Centaury

    Yellow Centaury

    Delicate Yellow Centaury, which blooms in high summer, only opens its tiny flowers in bright sunshine, so go looking in decent weather. Windmill Farm and the Grochall Track are two […]

  • Dodder

    Dodder

    Watch out for the red stems of the parasitic plant Dodder scrambling over gorse and heather. It flowers between July and September. Photo: Wikimedia Commons (see below for full attribution)

  • Bird’s-foot-trefoil

    Bird’s-foot-trefoil

    If you ever wondered how Bird’s-foot-trefoil got its name, you have to wait for the seedpods to appear in late summer. Photo: Steve Townsend