My secret garden
Rowan loves the fresh smell and sight of the buttercups in the wildflower meadows at Besthorpe. It's a special place because there are precious few spots like this where she can spend time…
Rowan loves the fresh smell and sight of the buttercups in the wildflower meadows at Besthorpe. It's a special place because there are precious few spots like this where she can spend time…
Steep neutral lowland meadows, enclosed and divided by ancient and species rich hedgerows.
Look out for the small, yellow flowers of Celery-leaved buttercup in wet meadows and at the edges of ponds and ditches. It flowers from May to September.
Growing in tufts, Crested dog's-tail is a stiff-looking grass, with a tightly packed, rectangular flower spike. Look for it in lowland meadows and grasslands.
One of our most familiar spring flowers, the cowslip brightens up ancient meadows and woodlands with its egg-yolk-yellow, nodding blooms.
Water figwort is a tall plant of riverbanks, pond margins, damp meadows and wet woodlands. Its maroon flowers are pollinated by the Common wasp.
Carmel comprises a mosaic of habitats with a distinct patchwork pattern of woodland blocks and unimproved and semi-improved hay meadows.
Meadows of seagrass spread across the seabed, their dense green leaves sheltering a wealth of wildlife including our two native species of seahorse.
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.
Elder is an opportunistic shrub of woods, hedges, scrub, waste and cultivated ground. Its flowers and berries are edible, but it's best to gather wild food with an expert - try it at a…
The song of the Roesel's bush-cricket is very characteristic: long, monotonous and mechanical. It can be heard in rough grassland, scrub and damp meadows in the south of the UK, but it is…