A hoverfly found something to eat in this fragile blue flower.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYZLZVQb3iHSI-AFpFaP68-zQnKPql2OWv6pkm2GXyZCujcpEQyE7ENpJE9n9GzM6QW3YUgsPd8-wcT9cO1YmFqi0UQlAo0PVu3zR0HPpYV9SLSds6x5XYl9soDl-Y1gVrQnC0ZSdfVYvQ/s280/lactuca+perennis%252C+syrphe-117823%2526a-600-8ss.jpg)
It's a Blue Lettuce (
Lactuca perennis). It likes warm and sunny places, so you only find it on well-exposed hillsides and fields. The flowers open only when it is sunny.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwPfjuMqETbro2I_001Mb5fyu-zo12eVPImzyVs-FgewUHmi_yA6EmxH8xnuVyHXQ9X4vxbrih4syG6UVbPbsJLPKk3VDRYAXN1k8ZX9Et7zQ3mhadEfLTGYw_pEkMPKqv3IxNnYs9nFnh/s280/lactuca+perennis+%25282%2529b-600-8s.jpg)
The rosettes look like those of the common Dandelion, but the leaves are a bit more incised. Like those, and also like the garden lettuce it has a white latex.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheul_klKPM9FkBefBb2Ie0TbvMgB54sNs2Pk_Vh3b-UMxv2u8may9hFYBI-WZc6RPw0KoqEhCWtyWbhI1cJPwynfHIWVel8BoQT7LzSupU7BpIc_C3jLd2hZDxqtwOa-Wl6le3Sbjg79Hl/s280/lactuca+perennis%252C+syrphe-117813%2526aaa-600-8s.jpg)
The shadow of another insect.