2024
Foxgloves
0 Foxgloves Look out for foxgloves – tall stately graceful purple flowers with petals fused into a tube with two lips and dark polka dots fringed with white that guide long-tongued carder bumble bees in for nectar. Enormous spikes contain drooping bell flowers and fruits at every stage of development. Wind dispersed tiny […]
9 June 2024
Cock’s foot seed heads
0 Cock’s foot seed heads Look out for cock’s foot seed heads – tufted, triangular flowerheads comprising clumps of spikelets. As its name as Gaeilge suggests, garbh fhéar or rough grass becomes coarse and unpalatable after flowering. It does yield well especially early and withstands drought because of its deep roots. While normally […]
2 June 2024
Sedges
Sedges Look out for sedges, which look like grasses but have three-sided as opposed to circular stems. Sedges have edges. Their bluish-green leaves spread outwards in three directions. Carex sedge plants bear both male and female flowers with the male spikelet on top, fluffy with anthers, while lower female spikelets get fuller […]
27 May 2024
Bird’s foot trefoil
Bird’s foot trefoil Look out for bird’s foot trefoils with clusters of bright yellow pea like flowers, tinged with red or orange with irregular petals. They are positive indicator plants on the ACRES grassland and peatland scorecard, meaning that fields score higher and farmers get more money where present. Bird’s foot trefoil […]
22 May 2024
Whitethorn
Whitethorn Look out for whitethorn flowers. This year’s display has not been as magnificent as it can be with heavy rain hastening the demise of flowers caught in downpours, while adjacent trees host beautiful sights. Timing of flowering varies within a hedge, which is very useful for associated invertebrates such as hoverflies, […]
22 May 2024
Meadow foxtail
0 Meadow foxtail Look out for meadow foxtail in flower. This early flowering grass has a tight cylindrical spike hosting many invertebrates, which in turn are prey for invertebrate eating birds.Meadow foxtail is found in old unimproved grasslands. Seed mixtures for improved grassland will not include it and such fields are grazed or […]
6 May 2024
Lousewort
0 Lousewort Look out for lousewort one of the positive indicator plants on the ACRES grassland and peatland scorecard, meaning that fields score higher and farmers get more money where present. It is a small low growing plant found in damp and acidic habitats. It has delicately lobed leaves and bright pink flowers […]
3 May 2024
Lady’s smock
0 Lady’s smock Look out for Lady’s smock also called cuckooflower and cuckoo spit, with four petalled pale lilac flowers in a spike. It is one of the few flowers that can persist in ryegrass fields as it tolerates moderately fertile soil, and flowers before grass growth takes off. It grows in wetter […]
2 May 2024
Charlock
Charlock Look out for charlock growing on recently disturbed ground on roadsides or new house sites where the seed gets a chance to germinate, as it is an annual plant. Charlock is an annual weed of tillage crops. It is similar to brassicas like oilseed rape with bright yellow flowers with four […]
15 April 2024
Cleavers
0 Cleavers Look out for cleavers or sticky-backs or robin run the hedge. They are annuals with plants sprouting from seeds each year. Tall straggly, sticky, square stems carry whorls of leaves with tiny hooks, allowing plants clamber through vegetation to reach light. Clusters of tiny starry white four-petalled flowers develop into furry […]
8 April 2024