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| Primroses and violets David North |
Early April and nature seems pregnant with possibilities.
Along the lanes close to where I live trees – oak, ash, beech and sycamore –
are still winter bare, branches stark and darkly silhouetted against spring
bright skies. Birdsong and wildflowers -
spring would not be spring without them, and both are in evidence as I walk my
dog along familiar verges now brightened with the golds of primrose and celandine, sky-blue speedwells
and the unassuming greenish-yellow flowers of dog’s mercury.
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| White dead nettle David North |
This is the time of year I make my annual resolution to
learn my wildflowers. Of course now it’s easy, the list of what’s in flower is
comparatively small. Red dead nettle is
in profusion on road verges, forming magenta patches along the lanes. Everyone knows dandelions and daisies and although
both can be spotted in flower throughout the winter, their flowers are now
abundant. They do say spring hasn’t
properly arrived until you can cover seven daisy flowers with a single footprint:
well by my count spring is clearly here.
More hidden are the flowers of other arable
weeds, escaped from the fields onto my local road verges. The diminutive white flowers of hairy
bittercress, dull yellows of groundsel, the white stars of common chickweed and
mauve-blues of ground ivy are easy enough to spot if you stop, bend and look a
bit more closely among the grass. I have
some wonderful, shady sunken lanes to walk along. The banks here are festooned
with literally hundreds of primroses and looking more closely amongst them I
can find the black spotted leaves of early purple orchid and, already in flower,
delicate white petals of barren strawberry. Woodland escapees on these shady
roadside banks include the first red campion in flower, dog’s mercury, dog
violet and ‘lords and ladies’ (wild arum).
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| 'Lords and ladies' David North |
The next few weeks in April will bring many more species
into flower along our verges. Look out
for greater stitchwort, lacy-white cow parsley, and one of my favourites, growing
on just a few local verges, the meadow saxifrage. I must dig out my wild flower
guide and remind myself of how to distinguish creeping buttercup from bulbous
and meadow buttercups and take on the annual challenge of speedwells: now is that
one germander, field, slender, wall or ivy-leaved?
Few wildflower meadows remain in Norfolk but we probably
all have a roadside verge close to where we live and these can be a haven for
wildflowers. And where there are flowers
there will be butterflies and bees to spot. In the longer grass small mammals such
as shrews and voles can thrive and their predators, barn owls, kestrels, foxes,
weasels and stoats all hunt along grassy verges. So our roadside verges are
like long, thin nature reserves and help wildlife move across the landscape
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| Red campion David North |
Our roadside verges, if managed sensitively, can be
hugely important for nature and our living landscapes. There are 238,000
hectares of road verge grassland in Britain with Norfolk alone having around
20,000 kms of road verges. Across
Britain verges support over 1,000 species of flowering plants including some
species only found here. With the loss
of so many natural meadows in Norfolk today you are more likely to see a
cowslip growing on a road verge than in a wild meadow. Even many orchid
species, from common spotted to the early-purple and bee orchid, may be found
thriving on road-sides. So why not take a walk on the verge and see what’s in
flower in your local patch. If you find
something unusual don’t forget to let us know or send a photo to our gallery.
If
you, like me, would like to get to know your local wild flowers better then here
are some to look out for along Norfolk’s roadside verges in April.
- Common daisy
- Dandelion
Violet David North
- Celandine
- Common vetch
- Cow Parsley
- Garlic Mustard
- Greater Stitchwort
- Lords and Ladies (Cuckoo Pint)
- Red campion
- Red dead nettle
- Self heal
- Dog and Sweet Violet
- White dead nettle
