Sunday 19 June 2016

Summer Meadows: Wildflowers, Butterflies, Bees and Moths


Common blue butterflies
Where I live is arable country, and there aren't too many traditional, flower-rich meadows left.  I knew the local landscape had changed hugely since the second world war but I didn't realise exactly how much until I came across some statistics recently. Essex is a county that has an above average loss of wildflower meadows - it's reportedly lost 99% of wildflower meadows since 1945 (that's 99% in the lifetime of many people living today, an incredible stat to think about) and it's losing 0.61 flowers every year.  The main reasons are (unsurprisingly) intensive farming and development.
Common spotted orchids
Some of the flower-rich meadows that are left are under the care of the local Wildlife Trust - and it's an area of these meadows I like to go and wander through when they look their best, which is now, in June.  I appreciate them even more now I know how many have been lost to the local countryside.
A local meadow of wildflowers including common spotted orchids
They are such peaceful places. I could happily spend hours in them just investigating all the flowers and the insects. I always come away from them so relaxed. I really don't need a session in a spa to unwind - just an afternoon in a wildflower meadow in June!

The flowers I found there include common spotted orchids, southern marsh orchids, ragged robin, and yellow rattle, which is a bee-magnet,

Common Carder Bee on Yellow Rattle
There are also several types of butterflies such as common blues, small heaths and green hairstreaks;

Green hairstreak
And there are moths flying about too, including cinnabars, yellow shell and silver y;

Yellow shell moth

Silver Y

A few years ago I tried to cultivate my own mini cornflower meadow on the smallholding. I knew the bees would love it. But although this mini-meadow was beautiful one year (the second year), I found it too much hard work to maintain. Our soil is very fertile and nettles, docks and grasses quickly take over. When we bought our land it'd been left to grow wild, but the previous owner had once kept pigs on part of it and I imagine that in its history it's been used for livestock and vegetable/crop growing, so the soil has been continually enriched.

Beehives nearly smothered by grasses and ferns after just a few days of rain
The yellow rattle I saw above is used to control vigorous grasses in wildflower meadows. A semi-parasitic plant, it feeds off the nutrients in the grasses that threaten to swamp everything else. But I'd need a lot of yellow rattle to do well here - and I wonder if would it thrive in the soil and tackle the nettles? (I'll be watching Caroline's lovely blog Ragged Robin's Nature Notes here where yellow rattle has been planted, to see if it does just that. )

Despite the difficulties, I do have small areas where some wildflowers are spreading. There's a meadow adjoining us where there are a few wildflowers and some, such as bird's-foot trefoil, are spilling out onto our land. Foxgloves have sprung up everywhere, too, including in the hedge;


I love the way the wildflowers bring in the wildlife. The herb robert I have growing around the house has done this. When it first appeared, I decided to just leave it alone because it mixes in well with the geraniums (and the rose).  It's now recently gone to seed and I'm thrilled to see that this seed is attracting a pair of bullfinches; a bird I've been so keen to attract here. No photos of them yet as I've only seen them through the window, but I hope to get some soon.

And maybe one day I'll discover a wildflower growing on my own land that isn't common for this part of the world. If I did, I'd be over the moon!






33 comments:

  1. I saw yellow rattle growing in a garden recently, the owner demonstrating very effectively the difference between a meadow area that has it and one that doesn't. It certainly got me thinking about some of the wilder areas here. You're not the first person who has said wildflower meadows are difficult to maintain though. I suspect our problem will be too much shade. The jury's still out.

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    1. I like the idea of yellow rattle controlling the grass areas. It sounds a great solution. It's so loved by bees, for one. I'd have to do some research, though, on the soil it likes and whether the sheep would eat it/if it's good for them (if the yellow rattle spreads it would go into their area and my younger sheep will eat anything!)

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  2. Hi Wendy, I follow your blog via Feedly, but had not realised you are in Essex. So I thought that you might be interested in our new charity to set up and run a field trial to identify how to improve the biodiversity of new meadows (or ones needing improvement) by enabling specific species to establish themselves which previous work has shown to be 'difficult; e.g. they get out competed and die. This will happen on the Woodland Trust's reserve at Fordham. Lots more info on our website, if you're interested

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    1. Hello Steve. Thanks for following and for visiting. That is very interesting about the project and great to hear that it's local - I'll definitely look it up and find out more.

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  3. Astonishing that you've had such a huge decline in wildflower meadows in your area. At least you have a few protected areas, but it's very sad that so much is gone. Your butterfly and moth photos are lovely. And I'm impressed that you managed to capture them so clearly--they flit about so much (at least ours do).

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    1. It is terrible that so many meadows have gone and their loss hasn't been stopped i.e. it was allowed to get so bad. As well as intensive farming, there's so much pressure for housing around here that they are still being lost. But it is good that the local wildlife trust and other smaller charities have been set up to protect some.
      Butterflies and moths have a habit of moving just when the camera is focused on them, don't they?!

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  4. A lovely post. I know a few cases where yellow rattle has worked very well so I suspect it would do the job for you. We have it in our wildflower patch here which was a chicken run for several years before.

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    1. That is encouraging to read that it is flourishing in your ex-chicken run because that must be very fertile soil. You've given me an idea to try it in our ex-chicken run as I have a hard time controlling the nettles there. As it's growing locally, I imagine it must grow on London clay (our soil here)

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  5. What a shame that Essex has lost so many of it's wildflower meadows, but lovely that you get to visit a protected one. Such gorgeous pics, I especially loved the common blue butterfly and the green hairstreak. I tried growing a little wildflower meadow but met with little success. Looking forward to seeing bullfinch pics! Another delightful post.xxx

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    1. The bullfinches are right next to the french doors so I can only see part of them. If I move any closer they fly off. I'm hoping they'll find the 'bullfinch bed' I've created for them - they may well visit there when I'm not looking!

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  6. What an amazing first photo Wendy of the mating Common Blue butterflies. I have just spent the last couple of minutes looking at the incredible details in their legs, antenae, eyes, and the fabulous markings on their wings.
    The Foxgloves have grown so tall this year, mine are now looking in our windows and still growing - it must be all of the rain.

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    1. I love the little blue butterflies; they are lovely to watch. We only really get the common blue and the holly blue around here although someone I know has seen a chalkhill blue locally. But this is very rare.
      I hadn't thought about the foxgloves being taller this year but you are right - they do seem to have grown more.

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  7. Oh I do love a wild flower meadow such a tragedy that there are so few left now. I sow wild flowers every year around the edges of my raised veg beds, nice but not quite the same. There are loads of bees in the garden at the moment, of all shapes and sizes, tunnelling up the foxglove flowers, swarming over the cornflowers. It is interesting to see what flowers they prefer. We found a huge moth on the ground, very dully coloured but with a huge body, will have to look it up, hardly any butterflies yet though.

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    1. I can just imagine what my local countryside was like when it was full of wildflower meadows. It must have been beautiful at this time of year - so full of colour.
      It doesn't seem to be a good year for butterflies or moths or even bees. My honeybees are spending a lot of time cooped up in the hive because of the rain.

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    2. We looked the moth up and found it to be a popular hawk moth - it's a shame we didn't look at the underside as it was more colourful than on top which was very dull.

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    3. I'd like to know more about moths. There are so many of them and I only know a few. We once found a privet hawkmoth in the kitchen - I'd never seen one before and I was surprised how large it was, too.

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  8. Our county Wildlife Trust has created a wildflower meadow at the lakes not far from us and when we visited a couple of weeks ago it was full of yellow rattle and a few orchids. I need to go back and see what else has appeared. I notice more and more public parks are leaving unmowed areas and sowing wildflower seeds on verges and roundabouts. I doubt if this wil go anywhere near to helping to fill the gaps of what has been lost but I suppose if is a good start:)

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    1. I wish our local authority was one of those leaving the verges for wildflowers and pollinators, but a couple of weeks ago they cut them down all around here. I know I'm not alone in writing to them about it!
      The wildlife trusts are doing a great work buying and protecting these meadows, aren't they? The ones I visit are really beautiful.

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  9. I'm glad you too have been enjoying wandering through your Wildlife Trust Reserves. The butterfly images are fantastic! There are areas here that have used the yellow rattle in their flower meadows successfully. Where did you find the stats for the loss of wildlife meadows? Did they have the data for just Essex or for the rest of the country too? Sarah x

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    1. For me, a visit to local wildflower meadows in June is a 'must do'. It's become part of my summer.
      The source of the wildflower information I've used is first of all from Hansard - a debate on wildflowers in the House of Commons where an Essex MP quoted the stats for Essex. The 99% loss is also on a local authority website.
      The loss of flowers per year figure for Essex comes from Plantlife's 'Jubilee - Our Vanishing Flora'. Dorset does a lot better than Essex does!

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    2. Thank you for the addditional information I will look at Plantlife. Sarah x

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  10. Beautiful photos, Wendy. I'm envious of the green hairstreak, as although I've seen one twice, each time I managed to stuff up my photos in my desperation and haste! I'd love to walk through a wildflower meadow like that.

    I've found there have been far fewer butterflies around so far this year because of the cooler wet weather. Oh well there is still summer to look forward to! It's a real shame about the loss of habitat in your area for bees and butterflies etc.

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    1. I was really pleased to catch a glimpse of the green hairstreak in the meadows. It's the only one I've seen this year - they aren't that common around here. I'm hoping July will be a lot better for butterflies, but the rain will have to stop first. Like you, I think summer's well overdue!

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  11. "I really don't need a session in a spa to unwind - just an afternoon in a wildflower meadow in June!"

    Me too - I can't think of anything better. Much more interesting than an afternoon on a beach!

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    1. I totally agree about preferring a wildflower meadow to lying on a beach! They are such fascinating places - there's so much going on and there always something different to see there on each visit. And I just wish I could surround my beehives with them!

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  12. It all looks lovely, and I have just spent the day in a meadow. Do you cut the grass back at the end of the flowering season ? at the park they have wild areas now were they don't cut. We have Yellow Rattle , but I have notice this year the grass has now taken over, but the wild flower meadow up on the farm at the back of us is cut every year and the flowers come back lovely.
    Amanda xx

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    1. We'll cut some of the wild areas back later in the summer (probably late July). Some areas I leave because the plants provide winter seeds e.g. teasels for the goldfinches. Unfortunately our local authority has a policy of cutting the verges in early June which is a terrible time for wildflowers.
      That is interesting that the grass has overtaken the yellow rattle.

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  13. It is a very similar situation here in East Yorkshire as regards the loss of wildflowers and meadows, and even where land has escaped the plough, such as the steeper parts of the Yorkshire Wolds, overgrazing has also caused much damage. Thankfully things are not being lost at the same rate as in the post-War years but it is all very worrying isn't it, especially in the arable counties of eastern England :-(

    Good to see how you have been trying to improve things on your own patch of land and hopefully this will continue to bring results. Establishing a real wildflower meadow requires an awful lot of work doesn't it, and I too would be interested to see how you get on with introducing Yellow Rattle to control the grasses.

    Interesting read as always and kindest regards to all :-)

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    1. I think it's a sad fact that all areas have lost wildflowers and meadows but the rate of loss is particularly bad in some counties like Essex and Cambridgeshire - as you say big arable counties in eastern England. Another depressing fact I came across was that 68 plants have become extinct in Essex between 1862 and 1974. I'm guessing that most of the plants were lost in the post-war years, but it would be interesting to find out how many were lost before then.
      Thanks David - best wishes to you, too.

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  14. A wonderful post Wendy - so interesting and just looking at your photos has made me feel so relaxed :) Thanks so much for the mention - will keep you informed about the yellow rattle here :) So sorry for the late comment but we have been away for a week and I try not to spend too much time on the internet.

    A similar situation here in Warwickshire re: widlflower meadows - it is so very sad to think of all we have lost. Sadly, I managed to miss the opening of a wildlife trust meadow near here earlier this month. I usually try and go and wander round and soak in flowers and insects but sadly the event is not well publicised :(

    Great news about the bullfinches - do hope you manage to get a photo. It is always so good when you manage to attract a species due to your actions :)

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    1. Thanks Caroline - Hope you had a good break. I'll be very interested in the impact of the yellow rattle. That is a shame about missing the opening of the Wildlife Trust meadow. The time in the year when these meadows look their best seems to be so short.
      I've now got plans for planting even more for bullfinches here!

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  15. Brilliant post Wendy,we planted a wild garden patch which does well every year,and our new cycle path on one of my walks is also planted with wild flowers.
    John.

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    1. Thanks John. That is great to hear about your wild flowers doing so well. I imagine cycle paths are the perfect places to encourage wildflowers - I wish we had more around here.

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