Another day on the meadow...

Chris and I were out early and spent another day surveying Portholme Meadow. We were fortunate enough to have brilliant blue skies, but there was a brisk north-easterly breeze which made the grasses and flowers dance around - as you can see in this image - taken right in the middle of the meadow during our lunch break. You can get some idea of the size - the road bridge in the distance is quite close to the entrance and it extends almost as far in the other direction. It is the largest species-rich hay meadow in the UK!

This part of the site has far fewer meadow buttercups, but a wider range of other species such as sorrel, yellow rattle, red clover, common knapweedm meadowsweet and narrow-leaved water-dropwort, a nationally scarce species largely confined to hay meadows on riverside alluvium.

We arrived home just in time for me to change before Niall arrived for the last session of chemistry revision before his and Ben's second exam on Monday. After tea I summoned up just enough energy to go for a walk round Ferry Meadows with Pete and Rosie (where we found another small hay-meadow that has become quite species-rich since the winter floods), though by the end of our walk my legs were feeling rather jelly-like. Walking through hay-meadows is very tiring!