With the May blossom flowering in the hedges around the meadows (cut one in three years to maximise blossom and berries), our wander moves from May to June and on into summer.
We get many white-legged damselflies, which feed on insects even a long way from the river.
The meadows are a real mix of grasses, including meadow foxtail, cocksfoot, Timothy, Yorkshire fog, sweet vernal grass and lots of different bents and fescues.
Lots of different wildflowers now and we are encouraging them to spread by planting out home grown plug plants from seed collected here and elsewhere around the farm, like the knapweed
The meadow vetchling is in flower, seen here with red clover, and sorrel in the background,
and as with all the flowers (did you spot one on the knapweed?)always attracts lots of bees.
Loads of butterflies about on a warm day too.....
The classic grassland butterflies like ringlet
or the meadow brown, seen here on a bramble flower.
Common blues, they like the birds foot trefoil in particular, although here it is on some old mouse-ear stitchwort
Much though we try not to encourage nettles, they are essential food plants for caterpillars such as the small tortoiseshell...
as well as attracting ladybirds and lots more.
The same goes for thistles.... much though I hate them, I have spent hours spot spraying them, have you ever smelt a thistle flower? It has a beautiful scent, which is how it attracts the insects such as the comma butterfly, usually seen towards the end of summer...
...or the painted lady which is migratory. There were thousands over a couple of summers ago but I have seen none this year.
We get small, large and Essex skippers although a lot of the time I can't tell them apart without getting the book out or a second opinion. I think this is a small.
A lot of the time I don't really know what the insects are, they just look very impressive!
But I know this one is a scorpion fly!
Of course in the bottom of the sward there are loads of small mammals and this makes it a perfect hunting ground for birds of prey, so it's always a delight when our ringer comes to see what's in the barn owl boxes....
and we are usually delighted to find a few sleepy balls of fluff. Not this year, probably because of the harsh winter, but there was an adult roosting so hopefully next year we will have some breeding again.
By this time most of the flowers are over and the meadows are a purple-red colour due to the Yorkshire fog and the sorrel seed heads.
There is always lots of bird activity, skylarks and yellowhammers after insects to feed their young,
and once there is plenty of seed about, beauties like this male reed bunting.
(OK so it was taken in winter but you have to allow me some leeway, they're hard to photograph when the leaves are on the hedges!)
By mid July it is time to cut the hay, fingers crossed for a hot dry run - you know what it's like!!
Sorry Bob we don't have any fancy kit and we don't use contractors on the ridge and furrow. This is one of our 2 aged Internationals, with an even more aged mower on the back, but it does the job! We then get contractors to bale it and we usually leave it on the field for a week or so... it might get a bit weathered on the outside but at least we know it is safe to stack in the barn.
Once we have some regrowth, we can let the girls in to graze the aftermath a few times before the weather turns in the autumn.
And just look at what our hedge management has produced for the birds to feast on!
And here are some winter visitors (fieldfares) enjoying the feast.
Well I hope you have enjoyed your wander through the hay meadows as you can see they are a wonderful place. The hay is used to feed our dairy herd - a lovely bit of hay is a good supplement to the modern PRG silage they have and it helps to keep the butterfats up as well as reminding us of the heady days of summer. As you can tell, they give me hours of pleasure. I'll leave under the watchful eye of 2 who grew up there.
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