With the nights drawing out and temperatures increasing (some days at least!), it is really beginning to feel like spring. And one of the best things about spring is looking out for the first appearance of all sorts of wildlife from migrating birds, to the first butterflies, to the first flowers.
There has been some evidence of bird movements recently, with species such as oystercatcher and redshank returning to Langford in the last week and a passing curlew over Phase 2 last Wednesday, whilst the first butterflies were seen nearly two weeks ago, with 2 brimstones on the public footpath. However, now it is the turn of the first flowers to appear on site to bring a splash of colour to the late winter landscape.
The first species I noticed was coltsfoot, or Tussilago farfara, a bright yellow flower related to daisies, which grows commonly on bare to sparsely vegetated ground and is most common on Phase 2. It is named after the shape of the leaves, which are said to be shaped like a colt’s hoof and was traditionally used as a cough medicine. It flowers from March – April.
On Sunday last week I noticed another bright yellow spring flower on Phase 1, the cowslip, or Primula veris. This species grows in open areas such as the Phase 1 meadows and it’s name is derived from an old English word meaning ‘cow dung’, in reference to it’s habit of growing around cow manure. The yellow flowers are borne on long stalks from a basal rosette of leaves and can be seen from March – May.
Another new flower on site this week is the red dead-nettle, or Lamium purpureum. Also known as the red or sweet archangel, it is in fact stingless and is a member of the mint family. It has clusters of small red/purple flowers at the top of the plant, which is often only up to 10cm in height. It grows very commonly in the UK on arable or waste land and in gardens, woodlands and hedgerows and flowers from February through to November.
And finally, take a walk through the woodland and you are bound to find snowdrops, Galanthus nivalis, along the public footpath. Thought to have been introduced to the UK around the sixteenth century, they are unmistakeable with their white downward drooping flowers on long green stalks. Indeed they are often the first flowers to appear each spring at Langford.