Meadows and dragons

Makes me quiver with excitement - June meadows.  Mix in a visit to lakes, swarming with dragonflies and damselflies being chased by hungry hobbies and you have yourself a good day out.

Alder carr woodland with yellow flag irises & biting insects (not in shot!)

Yellow flag iris

Alder carr is woodland on damp, inundated soil; it is a swampy habitat, full of interesting and biting insects, and fascinating plants.  Willows and alders dominate, but in open areas orchids mix with irises, rushes, marsh valerian, willow-herbs and other bog plants.

Dragonflies patrol territories, along with hundreds blue damselflies resting on leaves and then taking to the wing in a blue haze, as you approach.

Four spot chaser dragonfly

F-S chaser in flight

F-S chaser at rest

F-S chasers at rest

Male common blue damselflies in flight

Female common blue damselfly with insect prey item

The day was partly spent in a hide watching hobbies catching dragonflies in  an amazing display of skilful flying.  The other birds of note were a marsh harrier and calling cuckoo - no bittern today.

Whilst standing on a bridge a ripple in the water, some way off, caught my eye .  I managed to photograph what I thought was a grass snake.  I was not sure until I looked at the images on my pc.  This is a small individual, showing how its body propels it across the water,.  Water isan environment that they are very happy in.

Small grass snake

On the other side of the bridge I could see some fish...

A large pike (top right) eyeing up two small perch

A little egret, some grebes with young and these black-tailed godwits were also nice to see.

Black-tailed godwits resting in amongst the reeds

Painted lady resting on a fence

We were on the Natural England NNR - Shapwick Heath.  A considerable amount has been dug  out for peat, but there are also mouth watering meadows still grazed and rich with wild flowers.  This is why you should NOT buy peat!!!  Buy peat and lose these flowers for a lifetime.

Meadow flowers

Southern marsh orchid

Oxeye daisies

Meadow flowers

Meadows flowers

Irises

Irises

Oaks and buttercups

Oaks and buttercups

Thank you Natural England (formerly English Nature, formerly Nature Conservancy Council, formerly Nature Conservancy...!).

Glorious June meadows - but hurry...

Early June is definitely a great time to see flower rich, unimproved meadows in all their glory.  In fact in mid-June the scythe is traditionally put to the grass to create hay for winter fodder (straw comes from cereal stems).  Nowadays it is a mechanical scythe, but still the timing does not change.  So hurry and find one locally, if you can, as very few remain unfertilised by modern chemicals (a sure way to destroy all botanical and insect interest!) and those that do exist will be cut soon...


One site that I keep an eye on throughout the year is currently a sea of oxeye daises.  Here are some images from an evening this week, as I peered over the dry stone wall.

 Oxeye daisies

More oxeye daisies

Grasses - don't write them off...

Grass may look dull, boring and samey...but actually there's lots of interest if you spend time looking and you also do a bit of detective work.

Pinch-gate leading to meadow

 Oxeye daisies scattered across the meadow

A quick visit to an NT garden in Holt, Wiltshire allowed me to make a quick sortie across a local meadow usually grazed by cattle.  Pollarded willows line a small brook, which in turn supports water mint, rushes and ragged robin.

 Ragged robin amongst buttercups

Buttercups

Footpaths wind through the long sward and so I managed to take a few piccies to illustrate the diversity of grasses found.  Identifying gramineae (i.e. grasses, but I was trying to avoid typing grasses again!) is best done by looking at the "flowers" and the junctions between the leaves and the stems - its easier than you might think with a good book to hand (such as the Penguin title "Grasses: A Guide to Their Structure, Identification, Uses and Distribution" by Hubbard - the experts favourite).

Cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata) - this large, sturdy grass is often found along roadsides where the grass is only occasionally cut. The English name comes from the splayed flower head that resembles a birds foot.

 

Red fescue (Festuca rubra) - one of the grasses that dominate short, unsown swards where they are well grazed, such as downlands, especially where the soil is poorer.  The leaves and stems are very fine

Crested dog's-tail (Cynosaurus cristatus) - an extremely elegant and attractive grass

Yorkshire fog (Holcus lanatus) - a soft hairy grass this red striped stems that look like gentleman's pyjama bottoms - a lovely grass all-round

Perennial rye-grass (Lolium perenne) - although a natural part of any meadow this is the grass that is most often planted for grazing animals as it grows into lush swards.

 Rough meadow grass (Poa trivialis) - one of the most common grass species often found on the edge of paths as it seems to be able to colonise bare areas with lots of foot traffic quite well.

Sweet vernal grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum) - this is a grass of older meadows.  Its stems have a very distinctive marzipan flavour when chewed - apparently this is cyanide!  When you think of a hay-maker chewing grass this is probably the species that was picked.

Grass is made to withstand grazing as the growing point is at the base of the stem where biting teeth can't easily reach.  That's why you can mow your lawn and it just keeps coming back...