Shadows thrown by the early evening light pick out every feature: streams, cleughs, barns and farms, mining spoil and ruins – a record of the land. It’s a boom year for this beautiful plant, perhaps due to the dry spring putting the plants under stress. View image in fullscreen ‘Sending out underground rhizomes where few other plants will grow’ Cottongrass (Eriophorum angustifolium). Plug plants of cottongrass are being planted by the North Pennines National Landscape to restore degraded blanket bog. The larvae of large heath butterflies feed on a similar species, the hare’s tail cottongrass Eriophorum vaginatum.

Source: The Guardian June 07, 2025 21:08 UTC