A reasonably bright but windy day was spent at Cleeve Hill Cheltenham looking at wildflowers.  Eight of us took part, led by Richard Catlin, an amateur wildflower enthusiast (and also treasurer of the group). We started from the golf club car park and headed across Cleeve Hill towards Prestbury Hill Nature Reserve. It didn’t take long before we were identifying some of the typical plant species to be found on limestone (calcareous) type grassland,  aiming to observe the characteristics to look for.  Species such as Rock Rose, Yellow-wort, Dwarf Thistle, Pyramidal Orchid, Wild Thyme and Salad Burnet were encountered, amongst many others. We were also lucky to spot a Humming-bird Hawkmoth as we sat down to lunch. Nearby was a patch of Fragrant and Common Spotted Orchids. On Prestbury Hill we came across several species of butterfly including Small Blue and a fleeting view of what may have been a Duke of Burgundy Fritillary (we can only hope).

An interesting time was had by all participants and hopefully, despite the rain lashing we got at the end, everyone went away having learnt a bit more about plant identification.