Rabbits in Clover

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 I was having a good look at the square of wildflowers that we have seeded in the middle of our lawn today. We have decided to live dangerously and remove the anti rabbit fencing and see what happens. I suspect that we are just providing a convenient salad bar for all the rabbits in the neighbourhood. I have left the rest of the grass on the lawn extra long for the benefit of the wildlife. My father would have been horrified by a lawn like this that wasn't manicured with nice neat stripes!

One of the plants that seems to be doing well is cover. There are two types the red and the white. Wildflower enthusiasts seem to prefer you to have the red, but they are both good as they fix atmospheric nitrogen into the soil by means of bacteria  occurring naturally in soil that forms  nodules in the roots. The plant supplies the nutrients that the bacteria require and the bacteria convert the inert nitrogen into biologically useful ammonia.

Here is a close up of the seeded parch showing the variety of flowers in a 4square metre patch.



And a close up of the red and white clovers.


And a shot to show the little island of wildflowers in the middle of the lawn.


Clover is useful as livestock feed and as a green manure. Clover plants are highly attractive to bees and clover honey is sought after. The plants usually have three leaves. According to Irish legend St Patrick used the leaves to explain the mystery of the trinity. Very occasionally you can find a four leaved clover which is supposed too be lucky.

Diary
Overcast but warm today. Last nights moth trap produced a nice brimstone moth shown below.

And camera traps got some good daylight images of a red fox.

I also notice a lot of day flying chimney sweeper moths in the meadow.









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