Wildflower Meadow

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 It is a privilege to have as part of our land a meadow that supports many of the traditional hay meadow species. It is perhaps contra intuitive but the best meadows are relatively nutrient poor. The consequence of this is that land that has been "improved" by the addition of fertilisers tends to be poor in wildflowers which are swamped by the growth of grasses. Our meadow has not been "improved" in living memory and  is therefore relatively rich in wild flowers. We had the meadow professionally surveyed in 2009 and they found 113 species of plant with a soil pH of 6 and a phosphate index of 1.2. We have been careful of the management of the field since and I would be confident that the list of species would now be increased.

This is really just the beginning of the growth spurt and the meadow will not be at its best for at least another month but below is a photograph of the meadow taken in today's glorious sunshine.


Flowers in bloom at the moment include pignut (lots of it), bugle, speedwell, marsh marigold, buttercup, dandelion, and crosswort.  We haven't seen the orchids yet and I see that there is going to be a big crop of oxeye daisies when they flower. This has been a really good year for the low growing speedwell (perhaps because the grass has been slow to grow and they have less competition for light. Speedwell commonly grows along lanes and travellers would pick some for luck to "speed them well" on their journey. The are different sorts of speedwell and I think this is gerrymander speedwell.

There is also a clump of red campion which photographs well!

I will post further updates of the meadow as the season progresses.

Diary
Some damselflies starting to emerge near the pond. I think this might be the homochrome form of the common blue but am happy to be corrected!
It was the warmest day of the year so far yesterday at about 21C here. I was delighted to see a barn owl on my way home last night about 10 miles from the house on the road over the moors to Middleton.  I managed a couple of not very good photographs not worth showing , but I will return to that spot and get some that can appear in public! A lot of bats around the house last night. My attempts to set a moth trap were sabotaged by a local power cut.
For those regular followers I am away for a couple of days and won't be posting again until the end of the  week.






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