Explosion of blue - Globe Thistle

Taken at Carburn Park on 24 September 2012, at the end of a three-hour walk looking for birds (and anything else!). Usually, I find Globe Thistles after all their petals have died and fallen off, so it was a welcome change to see the blueness/purple of this one. I don't know what species of Globe Thistle this is.

"Echinops ( /ˈɛkɨnɒps/) is a genus of about 120 species of thistles in the daisy family Asteraceae, commonly known as globe thistles. They are native to Europe east to central Asia and south to the mountains of tropical Africa." From Wikipedia.

Yikes - SNOW is in our forecast for 3rd October - NEXT WEEK! I am so not ready for this!