My regular readers will know that I really like being in the countryside and likewise anything to do with the natural world. Particularly I love to recognise the animals and birds I come across whilst walking, for that reason I rarely go out without my binoculars. Last year, for a variety of reasons, I had an unusual amount of uncommitted time to spend and experienced a number of guided rammbles in my local district. Some of them were particularly for bird watching, yet by way of a different experience I made the decision to experience some wildflower walks, an area in which I hadn’t taken a lot of notice of in the past.
During my summer season rammbles I have always stopped to admire a meadow full of colourful flowers but had never bothered to discover their names or their life-cycles. I can recal the day though when I determined that I ought to be uninformed no more. On one of my common walks via the golf course (fantastic havens for all kinds of flora and fauna), I came across an area that the staff had allowed to become wild. It was a blaze of reds and yellows that was additionally complimented by the light on that gorgeous summer afternoon. The high point however was the large group of goldfinches that were feasting on the red seed heads, their colouring perfectly mirroring the colours all-around them. I was sorry for not having taken my camera and missing such a memorable photographic opportunity.
Within Britain we have National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Sites of Special Scientific Interest, the bodies that manage these organise events with wild flower strolls to highlight the work they carry out and to educate people. These trips are as a general rule led by experts in the field who are very skilled, along with assistance from the serious amateurs nearly every grass, sedge or flower is spotted and recognized for the sake of the newcomers in the party. Having finished a few of the walks I started being fascinated with the various wildflowers that I would as a rule unwittingly trample under foot.
I discovered the lovely purple of self-heal which apparently can be fairly invasive on manicured lawns and is hence a scourge of the gardener. The tiny flowers of the variety of plants in the bedstraw family started to become familiar. Some plant species can only be recognized by observing minute features on the leaves or flowers through a magnifying field lens, now my summer time walks mean I have one of these round my neck along with the binoculars!
I also found out about how meadows are being farmed carefully to cause a change to the falling wildflower population. Farmers are in effect being given incentives to manage their fields in a distinct way to encourage wildflowers to thrive. Wild flowers usually do not do well in well-fertilized fields as they need to compete with the strong grasses that thrive in such a medium. What is essential for a happy balance is light muck-spreading, cutting only once the plants have set seed and limiting grazing cows, these also assist by treading the seeds into the earth with their hooves. I in addition learned how to survey a meadow but that’s a different story, I’m particularly looking forward to this spring and summer.
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