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Wildflower Meadows – A Maturing Field
If you’ve been following any of the progress at Brimwood Farm, you’ll know that last spring I conducted a crowdfunding project to pay for seed to sow a wildflower meadow. Now in it’s second autumn, the field is beginning to mature. And, rather wonderfully, it’s doing it’s intended job in attracting a large amount of wildlife.
With 40 acres of land to one day turn into a smallholding there’s a major priority in my mind; conservation. This little patch of Suffolk is surrounded by fields eroded of nutrients, sprayed with chemicals and stripped of hedges.
Remember that chapter in the Animals of Farthing Wood where the party come across the dead field?
Well, that’s the arable acres around Brimwood Farm. However, I always remember a fantastic array of wildlife when I was a child, and I’m keen to not only draw it back, but increase the species count too.
A gorgeous comma has a sugary blackberry meal.
There’s a place for bindweed…and it’s in a wildflower patch.
Daisies take over freshly turned land.
A wildflower meadow is a good place to start. The flowers provide nectar for bees and butterflies. These provide food for birds. The tall stems of ox-eye daisies, mallow and giant plantain offer somewhere to hide for rodents, bunnies and hares. And these are prey for some of our larger predators too; particularly owls and buzzards.
Teasels grace the air with architectural beauty.
The last blooms of the year attract summer insects.
With only one fifth of the field sown, I’m delighted to see seedpods ready to burst.
Even a manically happy Bo didn’t scare away the doe deer as the gazed at us from the distance.
I set off with another work party this weekend to survey the site and was thrilled with what I found (though a little daunted by the sheer scale of work to do). The main flower season is over, but the field is covered in ripe pods bursting with seed for next year. Amongst the stems, a few blooms continue, drawing in the late summer insects. One evening, tawny owls hooted in the trees whilst a barn owl screeched overhead. The following morning, as the rabbits and pheasants retreated into the hedges, I saw a single doe deer raise her head from the wildflower stems and look gently at me, before wandering off towards the woodland. Then, a hare raced out from underfoot, so well camouflaged I’d almost stood on it.
Wonderful.
The wildflower meadow is certainly doing its job in attracting wildlife; and a lot of it is thanks to YOU. I and my friends can offer our time and effort, but it is the donations on the Brimwood Farm projects that keep this conservation ball rolling. So – THANK YOU.
There is still a vast amount to do – even with the meadow itself we’ve only seeded about one fifth of the land. Scything is a rewarding but time consuming and tiring job – luckily our local friendly farmer is going to top the field for me this year so all we have to do is rake off the stems. However, as much as the hard work offers its own dividends, it’s seeing the oasis bloom and hearing that the area is becoming a wildlife hotspot that is the real reward. Long may it continue!
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