Buttercup blog part 2

Following on from my last post, I thought I would just add a couple more buttercup pictures I took at Martin's Meadows today.
The summer weather that has arrived this week has really moved the flowering season on a pace and the meadow buttercups seem to have reached their peak in a matter of days.

As we walked around the edge of the meadows, Ellie caught a buttercup in her collar - an excellent  photo opportunity and from the slight yellow glow beneath her chin I would say she definitely likes butter!

Buttercup blog

We are in the midst of 'buttercup month' at the moment.

On the  drier grasslands (e.g Hutchison's meadow and many churchyards and road verges), bulbous buttercup - Ranunculus bulbosus has been in bloom for a week or two, adding some welcome yellow 'sunlight' to the rather rain swept days of April and early May. A frequent companion of one of the earliest flowering meadow grasses -  sweet vernal grass - Anthoxanthum odoratum, bulbous buttercup is easily distinguished from other buttercups, by it softly lobed leaves and its down-turned or reflexed sepals.

Often at least a fortnight of so later, meadow buttercup - Ranunculus acris begins to flower - carrying its much taller flowering heads up into the hay. It also has a much more cut or dissected leaf.

 Meadow buttercup is the buttercup that creates the beautiful haze of yellow seen in hay meadows - often flowering at the same time as common sorrel - Rumex acetosa - the yellow buttercup contrasting dramatically with the red sorrel.

For me, 'buttercup month' also means returning to the office after a meadow visit  with my shoes or boots covered with yellow dust from the petals and pollen!

A snake in the grass

This month, the meadows begin to 'move' as days lengthen, the soil warms up and April showers and downpours provide welcome moisture. However, growth is slow, the 'spring flush' of grass is yet to take off. Early and low flowering species like barren strawberry, bugle and germander speedwell are still clearly visible and cowslips are often the tallest flowers in the meadows.
This is an ideal time to see Adder's tongue - Ophioglossum vulgatum. This curious low-growing fern  occurs in old, undisturbed grasslands - its simple, lime-green leaves often forming quite large colonies of no more than a few centimetres high. The sporangia from which spores are released arise from the centre of the leaf  like a snake's tongue - hence the name Adder's tongue.

Blackthorn winter

The first week of April has brought a few hours of welcome rain, not enough to remedy the drought, but enough for the meadow grasses to begin to show signs of green. The rain has been followed by what always feels very typical of Suffolk spring weather - bright sunshine to draw us outside, but a keen north easterly wind to remind us not to leave our coats at home!

Cold snaps like this often seem to coincide with the Blackthorn flowering and the first cowslips opening - hence the expression 'Blackthorn or Cowslip Winter'. I don't know whether this is a Suffolk expression or one in wider usage - but it certainly seems to hold true most springs.

Another early flowering grassland plant in flower at the moment is field woodrush or as it is sometimes known 'Good Friday grass'. It certainly lives up to this name as you can invariably find it in flower on Good Friday despite the timing of Easter varying from year to year.

I called in at Mickfield meadow last week on a bright but cold spring day. One of the oaks in the meadow was full of chattering fieldfares gathering for their journey - the onset of spring here, being the signal for them to head to pastures 'north'.

The meadow has hardly moved since autumn, the soil temperatures still too low for much growth. But in a sheltered, sunny corner, barren strawberry and dog's mercury flower at the base of the hedge and the first blackthorn flowers emerge.

Walking back to the car along the nearby green lane, I was struck by the contrast of the vibrant almost iridescent green of the 'early to grow' rough-stalked meadow grass and lesser celandine, in comparison to the as yet leafless hedge. But spring is definitely underway - the path was scattered with bud frass, where the pussy willow has burst into bloom and a bumble bee meandered past me, in pursuit of some early pollen and nectar.

Fending off the cold

I called in at our Winks Meadow reserve today. It was a typical early spring Suffolk day, with a very cold wind sweeping across the 'high' claylands of the former Metfield airfield.

The meadow as yet shows few signs of spring, but amongst the winter grasses, the cowslips are beginning to prepare. It occurred to me that their tight clusters of flower buds - hunkered down in the basal leaf rosettes - resembled my hands clenched against the cold!

Snowfall

The recent spell of snowy weather made getting out and about to the meadows very tricky. All but Hutchison's meadow are off minor roads that were either snow bound or treacherous with ice. However, by the third day the road to Monewden was passable with care, so I called in at Martin's meadows to take a few photos of the grassland beneath a blanket of snow.

It was quite magical to arrive and find the snow completely undisturbed except for a few pheasant and rabbit prints and the detail of the orchard trees really stood out against a snowy back drop.

Even with snow on the ground, the hazel catkins in the orchard were a welcome sign that spring is just around the corner, whilst a cluster of ladybirds very wisely remain in hibernation.