The Meadow at Jordans Mill is looking good, it has an abundance of wildflowers and grasses growing which are attracting all sorts of insects. If you stand still and watch one area, you will see all the different plants like corn cackle, columbine, teasels, oxy-daisies and various types of thistle; it’s the perfect habitat for our diverse eco-system.
The teasel’s have attracted loads of banded demoiselles, a beautiful blue damsel fly with a large black band in the middle of its wings, but also the common blue damsel fly which is an electric blue colour. When the teasels flower, watch out for the beautiful Goldfinches who will be flying in to eat them.
As the weather warms up over the next few months, you are going to see lots of new and exciting species: grasshoppers, crickets and beautiful butterfly species such as the red admiral and peacock. You may also spot the light green brimstone butterfly and the comma, which is orange and brown and has a ragged appearance. There are lots of caterpillars on the nettles so let’s hope we have a good year.
We do have some fox gloves around the gardens so here some interesting facts about them. Fox and glove are original Anglo-Saxon words, they have also been known regionally as all sorts of names i.e. fairy fingers, ladies’ thimbles, rabbit flowers, throatwort, flapdock, cow-flop, lusmore, lionsmouth, scotch mercury, dead man’s bells, witches’ gloves – more than 30 have been recorded. But be careful as they are very toxic, and all parts contain a cardiac glycoside, the effect of which can be fatal.
If you are passing do pop in for a walk around the meadow as you might be surprised at what you will see. It may even give you an idea for creating your own wild flower section!