Magical Marsh Gentians

 

Over the past few days we have been visiting sites where we had previous records of Marsh Gentians.  Over the past years, they have fluctuated in number but there does appear to be a downward trend. Many of the sites have very few flowering spikes: they are very easy to spot when they are open as their bright blue, trumpet-shaped flowers look quite out of place in nature to me.

Marsh Gentians are declining nationally and are found only in nutrient poor habitats where the ground is generally damp.  They are therefore very localised and we are extremely lucky to have them here. I don't need to say that if you see them, please be careful not to trample or damage them. 

The flowers close at night, making them harder to count in the mornings.  In the past they also seemed bigger, with many more multiple flowers on each stem but I don't think there is any hard evidence for that.