There are lots of flowers brightening up the moor at the moment and the photos below were taken during my early morning bird survey yesterday morning. The photos below were all taken on Asham Meads, a Wildlife Trust site on the north east side of the moor, but these flowers are all also found on the RSPB reserve too. Lady’s smock is particularly visible with its delicate, purple-tinged, white flowers, standing out brightly in the fields. Other flowers including the parasitic yellow rattle will be in flower soon too, so keep your eyes open for them.
Later in the year we are hoping to take some ‘green hay’ from Asham Meads and spread it onto our neighbouring field called Malt Pit. The green hay should include lots of flower seeds and once spread over an area of prepared bare ground on Malt Pit, should hopefully help to boast the floristic diversity of the field.
Photo 1.) Cowslip. The name may derive from the old English for cow dung, probably because the plant was often found growing amongst the manure in cow pastures.
Photo 2.) Lady’s smock. Also known as cuckoo flower (because it appears at the time the first cuckoo is heard), is the food plant of the orange tip butterfly, some of which you might have seen fluttering around the moor.
Photo 3.) Green-winged orchid.