In praise - yes, praise! - of dandelions

I know how to pick my challenges! Yes, I'm going to attempt to blow the trumpet of a plant that is the sworn enemy for some people who strive for the perfect lawn - the dandelion. Those rosettes of tooth-edged leaves that evade the mower's blades; that deep tap root that refuses to be eradicated - some of you may be shuddering at the very thought.

But I love them, and last weekend I grabbed some photos which reveal some of the wildlife that also thinks they're marvellous.

At this time of year, these little drops of sunshine scattered through the grass are a very valuable source of nectar and pollen. In fact, they're stuffed with it.

It means that many types of solitary bee wander happily from flower to flower, such as this rather small species (I won't attempt to put a name to it)...

...or this rather larger Andrena mining bee (probably Grey-patched Mining Bee, a widespread species that breeds in sloping lawns).

And here's a little tester - what group of insects do you think these two belong to?

If you said 'wasp', we can all understand why, but they are actually another solitary bee, called a nomad bee. This one I believe is Gooden's Nomad Bee, and it lays its eggs in the nests of other solitary bees.

Here is the same bee resting after its dandelion drinking-session - groovy antennae or what!

And there are some spring butterflies that turn to dandelions too, such as this Peacock.

What I don't have is a photo of Goldfinches feeding on the ripening seeds, plucking away. Nor of kids playing "What time is it?" by blowing on the seedhead. Or of distant lovers casting the little parachute seeds into the air to send tender thoughts to their beloved.

And with 229 different micro-species of dandelion in the UK, spread across every corner of the land from Shetland to Scilly and even growing at up to 1200m on mountains, you can but admire the success of this plant.

So why should a lawn have to be flowerless? Why can't it be allowed to be dotted with pure gold?

Oh, and those tooth-edged leaves? In French, they are called the 'dents du lion', just in case you wondered where the flower gets its name.