The Accipiter - Online magazine from The Hawk Conservancy Trust

Meadow Muses


Monica	Brigid

Monica Johnson and Brigid Campbell look at the ever-changing flora and fauna in our beautiful wildflower meadow which is named in memory of Reg Smith, founder of the Hawk Conservancy Trust.

What’s Appeared In The Meadow So Far? – May 2008

Blackthorn

What struck us most, walking round the meadow in early April, was that nothing much had changed since our March visits! Last month we showed how certain plants had come out earlier than in some previous years, but the very cold spell of weather in March seems to have stopped many things in their tracks. The single blackthorn bush which was in full flower in March has finished flowering, but most of the others have only a few open blossoms and many are still in tight bud. The hawthorns have quite a lot of leaves but although we can see a few buds waiting to open, there are some hawthorn bushes with no visible buds at all. The cowslips have come on well in the warm sunshine of the last week and the floor of the meadow is carpeted with yellow, which will have got even better in the next week or two, by the time you are reading this.


Hawthorn	1st April 2008	9th April 2008

One or two plants are in flower in the shelter of the hedges and there are already a few insects around, so for this month's page, in the absence of much to report, we will just show you a selection of the things we've seen so far.

Leaves and Buds


Ash buds	Elder	Bramble

In the hedgerows the tight black buds on the Ash trees behind the shepherd’s hut are just beginning to split, the Elders still have only a few opening leaves, with the embryonic flower heads already showing between them and the Bramble leaves are coming on strongly, delicately tinted with red and yellow as they open. On the floor of the meadow the Bird’s-Foot Trefoil, Wild Marjoram and Goosegrass are still small, but coming up over the whole of the central area.


Bird's Foot Trefoil	Marjoram	Goosegrass

Flowers


Dog’s Mercury	White Deadnettle	Ground Ivy	Dandelion

Deep in the undergrowth along the right-hand, northern hedgerow is a big patch of Dog’s Mercury, mostly hidden from view in the shade of the bushes. In the sunnier parts of the hedgerow are White Deadnettle and the tiny bluish-purple flowers of Ground Ivy, always one of the first plants to open in Reg’s Meadow. You can read more about this little plant below, as it is our featured species for the month. Out in the open in full sun are bright yellow Dandelions.

Invertebrates


Tawny Mining Bee	Mining Bee Burrow

It’s still rather early to see many insects and other invertebrates around the meadow, but there are some about, feeding on the few plants that are already in flower. Two of these are new species for our list. The first is a bee, called the Tawny Mining Bee, one of the group known as Solitary Bees. The female excavates a small burrow in loose soil, where she lays her eggs. We found a mining bee’s hole at the bottom of the meadow, which may be the burrow of one of these Tawny bees.

Bee Fly

The females have attractive fox-coloured fur, while the males are less colourful. The first photo shows a female and we also saw another female not very far away, in the lower flying ground. The insect in the next photo (right) looks similar and at first I thought this was a bee, but the long black proboscis on the head shows that it is in fact a fly, known as the Bee Fly (Bombylius major). The proboscis is used as a feeding tube to gather nectar and this fly hovers in front of plants while feeding. There is a connection with the bee shown above, as the larvae of the Bee Fly are parasites that live in the burrows of mining bees, feeding on the larvae and food stores in the burrows.


Peacock Butterfly	Red-tailed Bumble Bee

We have often seen the final two species in the meadow before, but haven’t managed to catch them on camera. The beautiful Peacock butterfly is one of the earliest to appear each year and the “eyes” on its wings are thought to deter predators. Large, distinctive Red-Tailed Bumblebees (Bombus lapidarius) have been around in the meadow for the last few weeks, some of the first insects seen this year. These are female queen bees that have been mated during the previous year, the only ones of their colonies to survive the winter. They reappear in March or April and begin to search for nests in which to lay eggs and begin the new year’s colony.

Featured Species – Ground Ivy (Glechoma hederacea)

This pretty little flower comes out along the edges of the meadow long before most other species appear. It is small enough to be easily overlooked, but has a long and interesting history. Despite its name it is not related to ivy but is a member of the Mint family, found in hedges, woodland, grassland and waste places, often on damp soil. It is a common, creeping perennial, softly hairy and with a strong smell, growing up to 15cm and flowering from March to June. It has kidney-shaped leaves and small bluish-purple flowers with purple spots on the lower lip.

It has many alternative names, including Alehoof, Blue Runner, Cat Ivy, Cat’s Foot, Field Balm, Gill Ale, Gill-go-by-the-hedge, Ground Joy, Hayhofe, Hedgemaids, Hove, Lizzy-run-up-the-hedge, Run-away-robin, Tun Hoof, Turn Hoof and Wild Snakeroot. The generic name Glechoma comes from the Greek word glechon, meaning “mint” or “thyme” and the specific name hederacea means “ivy-like”. The common English name derives from the ivy-like appearance of the leaves and the creeping habit of the plant.

In Scottish folklore Ground Ivy was bound up with rowan and woodbine to make a wreath which was placed under milk churns and jugs to prevent the milk being stolen by the “sidhe”, fairy-like beings believed to live under mounds and cairns. The wreaths were also used to protect against witchcraft. Burning the plant under a yellow candle on a Tuesday would reveal who might be working against you and burning it in the ground would exorcise people who disagreed with you! Ground Ivy was also said to signify tenacity in the face of difficulties.

The plant has astringent, diuretic, tonic and gentle stimulant properties and is known to have been used medicinally as far back as the 13th century. It was apparently something of a “cure-all”, used in the treatment of coughs, nervous headaches, kidney disease, jaundice, indigestion, consumption, sore or weak eyes, tinnitus, deafness and snake bites! When combined with Yarrow or Chamomile flowers it was also used to treat bruises, black eyes, corns, abscesses and tumours. In recent times it has been used to make a tonic herb tea.

As long ago as early Saxon times, before hops were introduced, it was one of the main plants used to clarify beer, by steeping the leaves in the hot liquor and this is the origin of the many alternative names which include the word “ale”. It is said to have improved the flavour as well as the clarity of the beer and was used in this way until the time of Henry VIII.

Finally, Ground Ivy produces a range of different natural dye colours for fabrics, ranging from creamy yellow to grey-green and dark navy/black, depending on which part of the plant is used.