National Meadows Day (in Miniature)

Today is National Meadows Day here in the UK. This particular 'celebration' has wild flowers has its focus, but I have added inverted commas as the news is not all good. I read on the magnificent meadows site about '7.5 million acres of meadows and flower-rich grasslands that have been lost since the 1930s'. The English Heritage site tells much the same story here.

Due to my shielding (which continues in many respects until August) I have not been out in a 'proper' meadow for far too long, so I have chosen to post a few pictures of our garden which is currently a micro-meadow with a path for my daily exercise. I share the path with Blackbirds and think it must help them to see what is lurking at the base of the long grass.

Is this a Carder bee of sorts?

We simply allowed the lawn to grow, and it was not only grass that grew but Knapweed,

You can see where the Nursery-web spiderlings hatched out: we watched it happen!

Ox-eye daisies,

and a plant with globular blue flower heads that looks as if it might be a garden escape, perhaps a species of Echinops or Eryngeum. Do let me know if you recognise it! It seems to attract ladybirds, and will, I hope, attract bees when the blue flowers open.

Last year's seed head with this year's pupa, which should darken soon.

It has been a joy to see more Meadow Browns than we have had before,

Ringlets, which we have not had before...

and more Skipper butterflies than there have been in previous years.

Butterfly Conservation's Suffolk branch supplied us with seeds for insects, which we grew in a trough. These are now a cluster of meadow flowers in the form of Cornflowers and Corn marigolds. I have also grown Poppies from seed.

I still recall Nursery School afternoons when the boys and girls my class marched off in a crocodile to Kippington Meadow in Kent. Part of our time in the meadow included forming a large circle to sing (and skip along to) 'In and out the dusty bluebells'. Meadows are so important for biodiversity and I feel sad that I have not been able to go out and see a bluebell this year. But I wonder how many children never have the chance to run wild among the buttercups and butterflies in swathes of long grass.

A Walled Garden of Wildflowers at NT Ickworth

Hoverfly on an umbellifer

NT Ickworth, here in Suffolk, has a walled garden, currently boasting a superb display of Dahlias around the edge. However, it is the huge expanse in the centre that catches the eye for it has largely been given over to a mass planting (by Urban Forestry) of wildflower seeds. These were sown in April.

This post comprises a scattering of the photos I took when I was there last weekend. The wildflower petals were beginning to fade and seedheads were becoming prominent. There was still plenty of pollen about for the insects ...

The seed mix, which has apparently been on sale at Ickworth, includes Cornflower (a particular favourite of mine), Poppy, Borage (a hit with the bees), Golden Tickseed, Red Flax, Corn Marigold and other species.

My understanding is that the 2015 and 2016 seasons of wild flowers will give way to other kinds of planting once the flowers have helped to prepare the soil. But for now it is a walled paradise, and in a summer that has not seen many insects, a veritable haven for bees and hoverflies.

Bee on Golden Tickseed

I love the complementary blues and golds ...

The view from the bench

Another pollinator at work ...

... and another Hoverfly

Looking up to the 200+ year old wall and the church beyond

... and looking across to the far side of the garden

Poppy

Umbellifer (which one?)

More Poppies (see the 'pepperpot' seedpod)

This reminds me (in a small scale way) of the swathes of Sunflower fields on the road to Edirne from Istanbul!

More Cornflowers ... and 'pepperpots'!

The Royal Horticultural Society offers advice on its website - here - for those who may be considering a wildflower meadow (or patch) of their own. The RSPB site also has suggestions.

My homepatch is a suburban garden so it will not be sowing a meadow, but I plan to plant a wildflower seed mix next spring in our 'wild corner' of grass and nettles, in the hope that it may add colour and help to give wildlife a home.

NT Ickworth, Horringer, Bury St Edmunds

Framlingham Mere, Suffolk Wildlife Trust

We joined the Suffolk Wildlife Trust some months ago and recieved a glossy book of the reserves in their care. One photograph showed Framlingham Mere, so we set off to explore.

After days of bitterly cold, windy, and at times very wet weather, it was a joy to feel some heat and to see the sun lighting up a meadow full of buttercups and shining its rays through the petals of wild poppies.

The reserve with SWT mere in foreground and English Heritage castle behind

The first songster was a Chaffinch

The trail was well-marked with these signs

It was lovely to see an English meadow with buttercups

castle - and church in the village

Quintessential summer scene ...

... and another

The willows were alive with the sound ... of warbling

I think these may be Leaf Beetles and their eggs ...

Galerucella sagittariae

Perhaps a Snipe Fly, but not sure ... (one for iSpot?)

A rather bedraggled Peacock butterfly

Just one duckling (left?) ...

... but so cute!

The duckling led the way and the female Mallard followed

Lovely to see Damselflies

Blue, beautiful blue ...

Mating time for Damselflies

A blue butterfly perched in the mud ...

I think it was a Holly Blue.

We reached the impressive walls of Framlingham Castle in which, according to the plaque ...

Given these royal connections, it is not surprising perhaps to see that a new book of poetry and prose from Framlingham is being launched for the Queen's 90th Birthday.  

I am attempting to collect data for the Garden Bioblitz (as advertised on BBC Springwatch), which is why my captions in this post are rather brief. There is still just time (as of 22.15 on 4 June 2016, UK) for you to join in the Bioblitz, too!