Pyramidal orchid

Amongst the throng of grasses and chalk grassland flora, a sea of pyramidal orchids (Anacamptis pyramidalis) stand proud, their tight form, shape and distinctive flowers make this orchid quite easy to identify. 

Early Marsh Orchid

 

I think, though don't hold me to it, that this is an uncommon white form of the Early Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza incarnata) discovered on the ramparts of Hambledon Hill.

Hambledon Hill

 

Dorset is home to some magnificent Iron Age hillforts, some of the country's finest if not most emblematic examples, and one of the finest is Hambledon Hill set in the county's Blackmore Vale region. The hill rises majestically from the surrounding landscape and was a focus of activity long before the hillforts' construction. During the Neolithic two causewayed enclosures crowned the summit, overlaying an earlier enclosure, the site also includes a couple of long barrows, most of this activity has been overlaid by the ramparts, ditches and interior of the later Iron Age hillfort, or levelled by time. I've not walked here for years, and it was only by chance that we found myself over this way today, and with an old friend; a perfect day to return. Even though I've visited this site innumerable times over the years it never fails to solicit a visceral response,  you can only imagine how the architects and users of these monuments must've experienced the sites and surrounding landscape. 

Yew Wood

There's been a Yew Wood on Hambledon Hill since the Neolithic. Soil analysis showed that between 3400 BC and 2000 BC the entire Southern side of the hill was covered by a dark yew woodland. The woodland we see today is much younger, though still the coppiced Yews within it are believed to date from the Medieval period, which is still some age.  It's dark and moody, well it was today anyway, and filled with marvellous specimens. Really interesting. The woodland is private, mind, and far be it for me to encourage trespass, but it is quite a wood to walk, very tempting, so be watchful if you do.