Crested Cow-wheat

Pete and Chris had told me that the Crested Cow-wheat population at Wimpole Hall was flowering profusely, so this morning I visited our local population to get some photographs. At first I couldn't find it, but when I finally reached the right spot I realised that it was super-abundant, with many thousands of plants present. Like many annual species, it seems to have benefited from the hot-dry weather in summer 2018, followed by a relatively mild winter and damp spring. This species is restricted to East Anglia and is considered to be Vulnerable in the UK Red List. It is now most often recorded from woodland rides and edges and is a hemi-parasite on grasses, similar to Yellow-rattle.

The afternoon was spent co-leading a Wildlife Trust local group walk round Lyveden New Bield. We looked at newly created areas of flower-rich meadow, a new orchard, veteran hedgerow trees and ponds, and considered how scaled-down versions of these features could be incorporated into our own wildlife gardens. The weather was threatening, but luckily we managed to miss most of the heavy showers. In the extra Pete is showing the group some of the many creatures that live in the ponds.