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This year on National Meadows Day, we are campaigning for the protection of irreplaceable meadows – and we need your help!
Our wildflower meadows are a powerful ally in the fight against climate change – but they are in trouble!
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Neohygrocybe ovina
Find this fungus in ancient or undisturbed grasslands. This fungus is a rare find!
Waxcap fungi in general can be found in grasslands which have not been fertilised or ploughed recently, and are regularly grazed or mown. Look out for them in any grassy areas – for example grasslands, road verges, churchyards, and playing fields!
Blackening waxcap (Hygrocybe conica) can also be turn black with age, but its stem does not turn red when cut or bruised.
Blushing waxcap is a strong indicator species, meaning that sites with this species present are likely to have a high diversity of grassland fungi.
Platanthera chlorantha
You’re most likely to find Greater Butterfly-orchid on old or recently restored hay meadows, particularly on well drained calcareous soils. You can also find them on pastures, open scrub and woodland.
They look very similar to their close cousins the Lesser Butterfly-orchid but have slightly larger flowers that are green tinged rather than pure white. You can also look for the pollen bearing structures on their petals called pollinia. These sacs of pollen are V shaped on the Greater Butterfly-orchid but parallel shaped on the Lesser Butterfly-orchid.
This is found across Britain particularly in the south. It’s has steadily declined across the UK over the past 100 years. The reasons are varied but in woodlands where they need dappled sunlight, they have suffered from conifer plantation planting and changes to traditional woodland management.
In grasslands, farming changes, such as too much or too little grazing, or early hay cutting before the plant has chance to flower and set seed, have had a particularly negative effect. The use of chemical fertilizers have also disrupted the delicate soil fungal network that orchids rely on for survival.
Plantlife owns and manages two reserves in Wales that are rich in Greater Butterfly-orchid – Caeau Tan y Bwlch on the Llŷn peninsula in the north, and Cae Blaen-dyffryn above Lampeter in mid Wales. The latter also contains Lesser Butterfly-orchid, so giving you a great opportunity to see the subtle differences between these two beautiful orchid species.
Carolyn Thomas MS, is currently working with us as a Species Champion to raise awareness of Greater Butterfly-orchid and its causes of decline. Find out more about Species and Nature Champions here.
Oenanthe silaifolia
This is not an easy plant to easily identify because it looks like a lot of other ‘umbellifers’, plants topped by a mass of frothy white flowers such as Cow Parsley, Wild Carrot and Hogweed. But there are a few clues to help you find it.
First, like the other six native species of Water-dropwort in the UK, it is found in wet places. But this species is particularly associated with floodplain meadows where its tall, hollow, grooved, thin stems can reach up higher than most surrounding wildflowers. These are topped by 4-8 roundish masses of white flowers known as umbels, each lacking modified leaves (bracts) beneath the umbel.
Below ground, it has thick spindle shaped tubers.
As floodplain meadows have dramatically disappeared from the British countryside, so has Narrow-leaved Water-dropwort. There are only an estimated 1,100 hectares of water meadows remaining in England and Wales, less than the size of Heathrow Airport, but there are causes for optimism as society is waking up to the sustainable benefits of these special habitats. These irreplaceable meadows are incredible carbon stores and flood defences, as their deep and absorbent soils hold and slow the flow of flood water.
A heartening example is Lugg Meadow, one of the UK’s most important and historic floodplain meadows. The only known stronghold for Narrow-leaved Water-dropwort in Herefordshire, the county Wildlife Trust is currently delivering a Natural England Species Recovery project to secure the plant’s future on the meadow. Also found on stream sides, and Narrow-leaved Water-dropwort known to colonise restored wet grassland on habitat restoration schemes.
Ellie Chowns MP, is currently working with us as a Species Champion to raise awareness of Narrow-leaved Water-dropwort and its causes of decline.
Find out more about Species and Nature Champions here.
Hygrocybe citrinovirens
Find these distinctive waxcaps in low-nutrient grassland habitats – they are equally at home in upland sheep-grazed pastures as they are in urban cemeteries with mown grass.
There are several other species of yellow waxcaps in the UK – keep an eye out for the light yellow or almost green tinge of this species.
The Latin name “citrinovirens” comes from “citrinus” meaning lemon yellow, and “virens”, meaning green!
These are both good descriptions of the colour of this waxcap species.
Glechoma hederacea
Ground Ivy is an aromatic creeping herb with funnel-shaped violet flowers.
This small, common evergreen perennial belongs to the mint family and spreads rapidly in a carpet-like form due to its creeping stems. Despite its name, it is not closely related to common ivy.
Ground Ivy has upright flowering stems bearing between two and four violet two-lipped flowers in a whorl. The lower lip has purple spots. Its leaves are scalloped in shape, which may explain why catsfoot is one of its many nicknames.
It is commonly found in woodlands, meadows, hedgerows, and wasteland throughout the British Isles, although it is rarer in Scotland. It also thrives in lawns as it survives mowing.
Platanthera bifolia
The best time to see the Lesser Butterfly-orchid is spring into summertime with June to July being the peak flowering time.
The Lesser Butterfly-orchid is a sweet-smelling plant, which grows across the UK. It can be found in a range of habitats, such as grasslands, meadows, bogs, woodlands, calcareous fens, and scrub, although it may be difficult to spot as it has declined in recent years.
Unfortunately, the Lesser Butterfly-orchid has been lost from much of its habitat in the UK, and is now endangered. One of the reasons for this decline is an increased use in agricultural chemicals which eradicate the soil fungi necessary for the plant to survive.
Carolyn Thomas MS, is currently working with us as a Species Champion to raise awareness of Lesser Butterfly-orchid and its causes of decline.
Fulgensia fulgens
This rare lichen is not just striking, but also a crucial part of the biological soil crust community which stabilises soils and facilitates the growth of other plants. It also hosts a globally rare fungus Lichenochora epifulgens which is even rarer than the Scrambled Egg lichen itself.
It grows on open short calcareous grasslands and dunes. It needs an open, well-lit, free draining substrate such as limestone, chalk or sand made from shells, with a high pH. Most often it grows over mosses or sometime directly on rock, at coastal sites in the south and west of Britain.
As the name suggests, it really does look like a scrambled egg. It has a crust-like yellow body which is often paler in the middle with scattered orange fruits of 1.5mm.
It is historically rare in Britain and had gone extinct in the east of England due to habitat loss as a result of changes in farming practices, an increase in tree cover and a loss of rabbits.
We are working to bring it back to the Breckland through a process known as translocation. Read how expert Dave Lamacraft translocated the Scrambled Egg Lichen, taking it 350 miles, and transplanted it using bookbinding glue!
Leucanthemum vulgare
In bloom around the summer solstice, this large daisy is a sure sign that summer has arrived.
Each large flower is actually not just one flower, but many. The yellow centre is made up of lots of small yellow flowers, just like its smaller relative, the daisy.
The nectar from these flowers is an important food source for pollinating insects like beetles, bees, and butterflies.
The Oxeye daisy looks similar to the daisy but it is a much larger plant. It is taller, reaching a height of up to 70 cm, and its larger flowerheads can be up to 6 cm across. The base leaves are spoon-shaped and up to 8 cm long. The stem leaves are toothed and more oblong.
Oxeye daisy is a common plant that grows in grassy places. It can be seen in a variety of habitats, including grasslands, dunes, coastal cliffs, verges and waste ground.
In both urban and rural areas, the Oxeye daisy can be found lining roadsides in grass verges, making them a common sight for many during British summertime.
Viola arvensis
Field Pansy is a delicate flower from the Violet family, and is the wild relative of the Garden Pansy. It’s a small low-growing perennial which can be easily confused with the Wild Pansy, however it has much smaller flowers. It is self-fertile and attracts butterflies such as the Queen of Spain Fritillary which will lay its eggs on the plant.
The flowers of Field Pansy are solitary and 15mm across. They have creamy yellow petals which are sometimes bluish-violet. Its sepals are pointed, and often longer than or the same length as the petals. Its stipules look like lobed leaves, and the leaves are oblong in shape. The plant grows up to 20cm tall.
While Field Pansy can be found throughout the UK, it is more common in the East half of the UK and SE Ireland. It’s most commonly found in dry arable field margins and waste spaces.
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