Foulshaw and Meathop Moss: osprey to cranberry flowers

Osprey with prey beneath its foot

Osprey is a highlight at Foulshaw Moss.  Two volunteers with telescopes and live-feed man the hide viewing points and give resumes of osprey progress during their breeding season.   On-screen, wind ruffles pin-feathers of two of the three young.  
Osprey are carefully monitored and at the other nest an osprey brought in a flounder at 6.00am.   This female laid eggs rather later so they've yet to hatch.

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Here at Foulshaw  I'm struck by the change in bog myrtle which was deep red and full of catkins in early spring. Now the shrubs are green and leafy, with only a few seed-heads.  There's bog bean in open water, almost obscured by fringing vegetation.  Over the raised mire the white plumes of cotton-grass gleam in the sunlight.
Below, a link to my  blog showing bog myrtle  at Foulshaw Moss, catkins to seed-heads.
Bog Myrtle, Myrica Gale at Foulshaw Moss - Cumbria Na

At Meathop Moss my focus shifted to detail and small scale.  There's a profusion of bilberry with small pink bell-like flowers.  Bilberry plants are threaded  through with long trailing  stems of cranberry leaves, flowers, and ripening fruit. Cranberry flowers are tiny, and exquisite.  The flower opens, then petals reflex,  folding back to reveal anthers and stamens that protrude.  Fresh cranberry fruits appear, some already red, some purple.  The long trailing stems can be red, with tiny leaves that are sometimes scarlet.   
One plant spills over onto the boardwalk. They're close but inconspicuous, unless you're looking for them. Cranberry flowers are tiny, often dwarfed by surrounding vegetation.  

I love the flora of the raised mire, there's so much to discover.   Sphagnum moss is turgid and watery.  Often bright green, it can also show reddish-brown.   Seeking cranberry plants, I come upon bog rosemary.  The tapestry of plants shows hints of scarlet and you have to zoom-in on a photograph to find the source of colour.  There's sundew, carnivorous sundew, lurking in the mix, the colour of fresh blood.  If one could see insects sundew has caught that might tell what pollinators cranberry flowers attract. 
Stand back and these tiny flecks of colour merge into the raised mire.   
Last summer,  I visited Meathop Moss when cranberry fruits were abundant, see link below
cumbrianaturally.co.uk
https://www.cumbrianaturally.co.uk › blog › foulshaw-moss-and-meath…

cumbria-butterflies.org.uk
https://www.cumbria-butterflies.org.uk › habitats › mire_moss
This Butterfly Conservation link sets out how raised bog ( raised mire) is formed. And the botanical species to be found in its acidic peat.  Large heath and green hair-streak butterflies are target species at Meathop Moss.
Photographing cranberry flowers and fruit, I wonder what pollinators they depend upon.  There's carnivorous sundew half-hidden in the weave of plants so some pollinators will be trapped, as prey. 

19th June 2014 I took photographs of cranberry flowers at East Baugh Fell.   They show detail more clearly, both of the bell-like fresh flower and the way petals reflex as it matures.