My experiment
Simon has been restoring Wild Meadows for three years. By planting trees, digging a lake and sowing meadows, he is showing how quickly wildlife like otters, badgers and tawny owls can return, and…
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Chwilio
Glorious grasslands
A summer meadow is a beautiful sight, but there’s so much more to it than gently waving grass heads and fabulous flowers.
Red clover
A familiar 'weed' of gardens, roadsides, meadows and parks, red clover has trefoil leaves and red, rounded flower heads. It is often used as fodder for livestock.
Cwm Ivy Woods and Betty Church Reserve
Ancient broadleaved woodland, plantation, calcareous pasture and quarry. A small part of the leasehold land is notified SSSI, being part of the Cwm Ivy Marsh, Dunes, and Tor SSSI.
Time is running out for new farm schemes to halt nature’s decline and adapt to climate change
New Environmental Land Management Schemes described as vital by UK Government, but still - after six years of waiting - no detail is provided.
Time is running out for new farm schemes to halt nature’s decline and adapt to climate change
New Environmental Land Management Schemes described as vital by UK Government, but still - after six years of waiting - no detail is provided.
Small teasel
A prickly, tall plant, the Small teasel is closely related to the Common teasel, but has much smaller, more rounded flower heads. It prefers damp, open woodlands.
Speckled wood
The speckled wood prefers the dappled sunlight of woodland rides and edges, hedgerows and even gardens. Despite declines, its range has spread over recent years.
Lowland fen
Water-logged and thick with reeds and robust tall-herbs or tussocky sedges, fens are evocative reminders of the extensive wet wildlands that once covered far more of the lowlands than they do…
Common toad
Despite its warts and ancient associations with witches, the common toad is a gardener's friend, sucking up slugs and snails. It is famous for migrating en masse to its breeding ponds.
Devil's-bit scabious
The pincushion-like, lilac-blue flower heads of Devil's-bit scabious attract a wide variety of butterflies and bees. Look for this pretty plant in damp meadows and marshes, and on riverbanks…
Dwarf thistle
As its name suggests, the Dwarf thistle is a low-growing plant that is almost stemless - its purple, thistle-like flower heads growing out of a rosette of spiny leaves.