Summer Wildflower Meadow
Thank you for joining me on this summer wildflower walk. We are going to explore the wildflowers that are currently brightening up our meadows and hedgerows in this barmy, hot summer of 2022.
Wildflowers are certainly more interesting to me than when I was younger. Back in the 80s, we were facing the loss of 97% of wildflower meadows, and that’s around 7.5 million acres of wildflower meadow and flower-rich grassland gone, according to the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew. In my experience, the UK may have a lot of farmland, but when did you last see a wildflower meadow?
Although wildflowers are often admired for their beauty and poetic nature, they also play a crucial role in our ecosystem. More than 1400 species of insects depend on wildflowers for their survival, using them as a source of food and shelter. Additionally, wildflower meadows support a healthy ecosystem by providing a habitat for hedgehogs, meadow birds, and bats, which feed on the insects that breed in these meadows.
It is concerning to see that industrial farming and the extensive use of pesticides have resulted in the loss of significant meadow areas in the UK. These meadows have been replaced with mono-crop production or grazing, a short-sighted approach. Wildflower meadows are crucial in providing beneficial insects that help fertilise crops. It is essential to recognise that ecosystems function in a delicate balance, and removing the bottom tiers can lead to failure. Ultimately, this can result in dried, non-fertile soil that cannot support plant life.
A meadow that has a variety of wildflowers can serve as a home for bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. This helps to sustain their population and maintain their diversity all year round. Additionally, such a meadow can help keep the soil rich in humus, making it fertile enough to grow food crops for people.
But it isn’t only food we get from wildflowers; Wildflowers make a significant contribution to modern medicine as they contain compounds used in medicine, for example, the perfectly named self-heal; clearly, our ancestors knew the value of this plant, which has antibiotic properties and foxgloves, which, although poisonous in its natural form, contains chemicals used in the treatment of heart disease.
Wildflower meadows can naturally deal with the so-called pests as well; the crop-damaging insects have natural predators that will stop the problems from getting out of hand without a drop of pesticide being needed.
The beautiful wildflower meadow I’m visiting today is rich in diversity and has plants that you will struggle to find but that have a vital role in this essential natural ecosystem. Take this plant, for example.
Yellow rattle.
Yellow rattle boasts a stunning and distinctive appearance that is easily recognisable. Its bright yellow, tube-shaped flowers emerge from a green-inflated calyx and grace us with their presence from May to September. The plant features finely-toothed leaves with prominent dark veins that grow opposite each other along its stem. The stems of the yellow rattle are adorned with black spots. After the flowers fade, brown calyxes containing sepals that nurture tiny seeds can be observed and heard, producing a unique ‘rattle’, where the plant’s name comes from. This rattle helps create space for more delicate wildflowers to reestablish themselves, making yellow rattle a popular choice for restoring species-rich meadows in intensively managed grasslands.
Now, just over here, we have
Common knapweed
The tightly packed, thistle-like purple flower heads of common knapweed bloom on all grasslands. It is in bloom from June to September and is a huge favourite of all butterflies, including common blues, marbled whites and meadow browns. Its local name, Black knapweed, relates to the fact that it is sometimes covered in these butterflies but is equally vital to bees, beetles and other insects.
Oxeye daisy
The oxeye daisy is one of the loveliest and most underrated summer wildflowers. It looks like a gangly, slightly overgrown daisy, with colossal flower heads nodding in the breeze. It flowers from June to September, and it’s a sign that summer has arrived; better still, the pollinators love it, particularly hoverflies, solitary bees and butterflies like small tortoiseshells.
The bright and cheerful oxeye daisy flowers boast white petals and sunshine-yellow centres that glow as the evening light fades. This has earned them local nicknames such as ‘moon daisy’ and ‘moon penny’. The childhood game of plucking the petals while saying, ‘He loves me; he loves me not’ originates from oxeye daisies, where each ‘petal’ is an individual flower. These daisies have composite flower heads that consist of yellow ‘disc florets’ surrounded by ‘ray florets’, and the game is now well-known to all.
Tansy
Tansy is an aromatic plant commonly found along riverbanks and roadside verges. It features fern-like foliage and yellow flower heads that blossom in clusters from July to October. The flower heads are composite, which means they are made up of multiple tiny flowers referred to as ‘disc florets’, but they lack any outer ‘ray florets’.
Tansy has a long and incredibly varied history of medical usage, being used to induce abortions in the Middle Ages and to control flatulence after eating fish and lentils at Lenten meals; it is, in fact, toxic if consumed in large quantities, causing convulsions in the liver and also brain damage.
It is perhaps better known for being packed into coffins as wreaths or a very effective insect repellent. However, be careful, as some people with sensitive skin can cause contact dermatitis.
Leaving the meadow, we now get to an area of wetland. As we head towards the river, I see a rare wildflower ahead. Let me check, yes it is
Grass of Parnassus
Grass-of-Parnassus isn’t a grass, but it gets its common name from the translucent green stripes that adorn the white petals of its cup-shaped flower. It was once a common plant but is now a wetland specialist that is disappearing from much of the UK along with its associated habitat.
Over time, due to agricultural and developmental purposes, many wetlands have vanished or been divided into smaller parts, resulting in the deterioration of grass-of-Parnassus and wetland fauna.
Grass-of-Parnassus, also known as bog star, has striking creamy-white flowers on tall stems up to 30cm tall. The flowers have five oval petals with distinctive ‘grass-like’ green veins running down them, surrounding the yellow stamens and five anthers. They can be seen from June to September. Note how the leaves cup the stem around the base, which is dark green and heart-shaped.
Quickly, come over here because I’ve just spotted something I know you will love. It has the wow factor, don’t you think?
Bee orchid
It’s a bee orchid, but this beautiful but temperamental flower is now sadly in decline throughout most of the UK. If you see one, you should never pick the flower – and yes, I know it’s beautiful and looks just like a bee. Still, that plant has spent up to eight years producing that single beautiful flower culmination, and if you pick the flower, it is unlikely that it will ever flower again. You have taken its only chance of producing seeds.
It is better to admire the incredible beauty of nature of the Bee orchid by appreciating that it has evolved to trick solitary bees into pollinating them. Yes, bee orchids look like female bees, which is good enough that the male solitary bees will try to mate with them but pollinate the flowers instead. The actual species of solitary bee the orchid mimics isn’t present in the UK, so all Bee orchids are self-pollinating. Bee orchids offer a fleeting glimpse of their beauty, as they only flower from June until July, so don’t miss your chance to get out and see them.
As we walk back to the lane along the western edge of the meadow, let’s take a look at three well-known wildflowers that are summer favourites.
Cow parsley
During the months of May and June, many of us are familiar with the delicate Cow Parsley flowers that float gracefully along hedgerows, woodland edges, and roadside verges.
This tall, hollow-stemmed plant with its umbrels of white flowers—umbrella-like flower clusters—proliferates before dying away just as quickly in late summer. It’s a favourite feeding plant of orange-tip butterflies and tiny marmalade hoverflies. Take one of the leaves and crush it between your fingers, and it releases a strong aniseed scent.
Its local name is Queen Anne’s Lace, and it’s not hard to understand why with the lacy lightness of the umbrels as they dance on the wind.
Standing as tall as the Cow Parsley is another big favourite of mine.
Foxglove
June is Foxglove’s time to reach for the sky and display their full ornamental dress, but this beautiful flower often hides a potentially deadly secret. All parts of the Foxglove are poisonous. Ingesting any amount of the plant can result in nausea, headaches, diarrhoea, or even heart and kidney problems. So look but don’t touch, and wash your hands before eating.
Foxgloves are beloved by wildlife. Their beautiful bell-shaped purple flowers, all hanging from one side of the tall stem, are a favourite of moths and long-tongued bumblebees, like the garden bumblebee.
Foxgloves are biennial, meaning that in their first year, they produce a floret of leaves but not stem or flowers; in the second year, they will produce their flowers and spread their seeds to ensure future foxgloves.
We are nearly back now, but this is a great plant to finish on. Its beautiful pom-pom-like flower looks angelic but has a very strange name. It’s called
Devil’s-bit scabious
One of my favorite late summer wildflowers is the devil’s-bit scabious. It has beautiful pin-cushion pops of purple that brighten up any area where it grows. The flowering period of this plant is from July to early October, and it attracts bees, moths, and butterflies that love it. The Marsh Fritillary butterfly, which is now in decline, uses it as its primary food plant.
The unusual name comes from British folklore and legend, which tells us that this excellent plant was so valuable as it could be used as a dye for clothing, a seasoning in food and an herbal remedy for fevers, eczema, and the plague – Yikes! It could even be used to heal the bite of venomous creatures and scurvy, hence its name.
It was such a great asset to people that folklore says the Devil got angry and bit its root off in spite. If you look at the plant’s short and stubby roots, they look like they have been bitten from below!
Thank you for joining me on today’s summer wildflower walk. We look forward to our next nature walk shortly.
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Further Reading
Summer Wildflowers – Lancashire Wildlife Trust