Joyce's Birthday in the Meadow

In April, Ann asked if I could do a wildlife walk for Joyce on her birthday in a paddock that they own, which is full of wild flowers.
The weather had been unseasonably wet, windy and changeable, however today the rain held off and we actually had sun for most of the walk. The walk was a slow meander around the paddock that Ann owns. It is a SSSI and is packed full of flowers, some of them quite rare.
We met at the gate to the meadow with Wren, Song Thrush, Woodpigeon and Blackbird singing. A young Robin was feeding in the oak tree near the gate. One of the first plants pointed out was a pretty grass called Crested Dog’s-tail, which has all the flowers on one side of the stem. There was a lot of it in the paddock. We also saw lots of Sweet Vernal Grass, which has sweet tasting stems and children used to suck them for the sweet sap. Another grass that is common in the paddock is Yorkshire Fog, a softly furry species. Flowers in the paddock are abundant. Burnet Saxifrage, an uncommon species of umbellifer, is very common. Meadow Thistle is quite rare outside the New Forest wetlands. Here it is pretty common, its purple thistle heads standing stately over the paddock. There is a lot of Meadow Buttercup, Creeping Cinquefoil, Lesser Stitchwort, Bird’s-foot Trefoil, Tormentil and Self-heal. Parts of the paddock had Betony and Ragged Robin and we saw about 10 Common Spotted Orchids in flower.
The birds enjoy the paddock too. We saw a Nuthatch which was feeding a noisy troop of its young in the Holly and Oaks and a Great-spotted Woodpecker flew by and landed on the wooden fence for a while. We found a little Bitter Vetch at the edge of the paddock and lots of Common Cat’s-ear just starting to flower. We found lots of Common Sorrel and Sîan decided to try the leaves. She liked the taste and continued to graze for the rest of the walk. Most edible plants were to her liking, but the Water Pepper was definitely not – too hot and peppery.
The paddock has a scrubby area in one corner with plenty of Bramble, some Foxgloves and Wood Sage. A damper flush through the centre had Lousewort, Lesser Spearwort, Redshank and more Water Pepper. The far corner had some Common Knapweed and more of the rare Meadow Thistle. More exciting plants were back nearer the gate though. Sneezewort, with small white daisy-like flowers, pink Common Centaury and Dyers Greenweed, like a small Broom plant. We also saw a little Ox-eye Daisy, Yellow Flag Iris and the leaves of Devil’s-bit Scabious, which flowers in July with purple thistle-like flowers. As the sun started to emerge a few Meadow Brown butterflies took to the wing. Lastly as we left the meadow a Kingfisher flew down the stream opposite. What a morning. Then it was all back for a wonderful and hearty breakfast.
Simon Curson