MEADOW SUMMER FLOWERS

Meadow grassland is always interesting and those which are not ploughed or sprayed with selective herbicides or have a range of wet-to-dry ground are especially rewarding in the variety and beauty of the species that grow there. Summer is an ideal time to see them.

A recent walk in Worcestershire provided a long list of flowers, too long to print here, but included cut-leaved and meadow crane's-bills, yellow iris, meadow vetchling, gypsywort, red bartsia, purple-loosestrife, selfheal, meadow buttercup, creeping buttercup, curled dock and broad-leaved docks, water figwort, yellow-rattle, bittersweet, red and white clovers, common vetch, common ragwort, common knapweed, marsh, creeping and spear thistles, yarrow, ox-eye daisy. I have not included grasses or sedges, both of which there were many, as you would expect.

Here are some photos of the meadow flowers. Can you name them all? (They are not all at the same scale.)

Betts Ecology’s grassland sites contain many areas of meadow, from small patches to more extensive stands. As always, we manage them to encourage a wide range of wild flowers through all the seasons, although there are obviously few after the hay is cut. Do take a walk along one of our paths beside or through a meadow area and enjoy the wild flora you will see.

 © Betts Ecology