Even with a spring that went from very cold and wet to unusually hot and dry in the blink of an eye, it amazes me how the meadow transforms from resting in March (below) to exuberant growth in just a couple of months.
By April Fool’s Day, there are plenty of primroses and dandelions to feed newly emerged insects, and our first wood anemones from rhizomes we planted last year. We left an area uncut over winter and were pleased to see something had made a hole, suggesting it was a useful habitat.
Later in April, I’m wondering if we overdid the yellow rattle but the betony leaves look healthy enough and some wild carrot plants have appeared without human intervention.
Mid-May brought sunshine, butterflies and profusion:
The thicket of fruit and nut trees we planted a year ago seems to be thriving. The trees appear to know they need to get their leaves out quickly, before the overshadowing oak does. The spindles in this patch were fully-leaved while the spindle standing alone in the meadow still had bare branches.
It is noticeable how many more butterflies fly in the meadow than over the adjacent mown lawns.
A week later and the buttercups are glowing in the sunshine. A guelder rose is the first of the new trees to flower.
By the start of June, the ground is parched and the mown lawns are starting to suffer from lack of rain but the meadow is lush and green. I scythe a few patches of thick grass to make room for more flowers and vary the range of habitats.
Thanks to Moor Meadows for inspiration. We will be opening the meadow to the public on 2nd July as part of their open meadows programme. Please see their events page for details: https://moormeadows.org.uk/events/
Moorhaven to Green Lane 