It has been English Flower week apparently, so here’s a few of our Devon wild ones….
These ox eye daisies are growing in the new wildflower area we planted in the old Wheatland Farmhouse garden. When we dug a new patio we put the nutrient poor sub soil on top of the over-fertilised garden soil and sowed seeds from British-grown wildflowers that suit our heavy clay soil type. This is the second summer, and interestingly these ox eye daisies, which do tend to be the more assertive wild flowers, are thriving at the top of the bank where the subsoil layer is thinnest and the nutrients can still be reached. Elsewhere, we are getting chiccory, birds foot trefoil, toadflax, and some of the smaller more delicate wild flowers.
But we welcome all of them, and so do the bees and other insects. There’s almost always a crab spider to be found somewhere.
Previously for #30DaysWild
This time last year: Maggie was exploring the Pegasus Trail, from Okehampton towards Cookworthy Forest. It must be time to back again, though it could be getting a bit overgrown, perhaps, under lock down conditions.
This time in 2018: Small Copper butterflies had emerged on Popehouse Moor SSSI. We’ve been keeping an eye open again this year, but not seen them yet. They’ll be here soon though. Small Copper’s have several generations over the year, and they particularly like the ragwort that flowers a little later in the summer.
This time in 2017: We were still enjoying four spot chaser dragonflies, whereas this year they’ve almost come and gone from the wildlife pond. It’s fascinating that dragonflies respond to temperature. Apparently, some can even delay their emergence from the pond to avoid a few days of rain, which might otherwise make it difficult for them to fully harden their wings and move from being vulnerable ‘tenerals’ to the fabulous flying fighters they become.