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!