Kemsing Down Cowslips

Cowslips, Primula veris; thrum-eyed and pin-eyed.  Kemsing Down with the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

On 12 April the Orpington Field Club went for a walk over Kemsing Down.  One of the group was particularly interested to see the photos, so I will spread them over the next few posts.

It's a grassy hillside, on chalk, with some woodland.  The most prominent feature was the carpet of cowslips.

Kemsing Down's cowslips with some of the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

The top photo shows the two types of flower, called pin-eyed and thrum-eyed.  Pin-eyed have a high stigma and low anthers; thrum-eyed are the other way around.  This alternate arrangement of the stigma and the anthers means that it is very unlikely that a plant will pollinate itself or another similar plant.  The pollen gets onto the proboscis of a feeding insect in a position that does not match the plant's own stigma., but does match a stigma in the other alignment.  Primroses have the same arrangement.

This is an exposed and windy hilltop with a great view.

Cowslips, Primula veris, and the view from Kemsing Down.
With the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

And there were lots more flowers and insects ... in the short grass were patches of purple Common Dog Violet and, just coming out, the tiny yellow flowers of Crosswort.

Common Dog-violet, Viola riviniana.  Kemsing Down with the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

Crosswort, Cruciata laevipes, in closeup.  Kemsing Down with the Orpington Field Club on 12 April 2014.

The bird people were seeing buzzards and hearing tits and nuthatches.   More flowers next time.

(Closeups were taken with my EOS 6D and 100mm macro lens; the wider shots were taken with my iPhone 5S.  All were processed with Photoshop CC.)