The Meadow Makers' Network Forum

Very beautiful poem...absolutely lovely.

Yes the cuckoo flower leaves really do look uninspiring sitting on a bit of compost but I'm keeping fingers crossed for roots. Accidentally cut a stem off the other day, so that's sitting in water too. I have one solitary Ragged Robin...in a damp and shady spot...does that sound like their preferred...

Yes, ours grow as isolated clumps... And I think are single flowers. I used to have a lot in one field and now only a couple of stragglers. All your suggestions for culprits are possible...we have had long dry spells ...especially this spring...and very late frosts too (climate here is almost exactl...

Superb post thanks Amy. I will try this.
I have lost a lot of cuckoo flower from one meadow...anyone know what may have caused this? and when to scythe to preserve cuckoo flowers?

Hi Jon, Amy & Robin A very interesting point you make about the temptation to 'tidy up'. I have thought about it this week while tidying up the vegetable garden! I think lots of us understand managing land for a garden, much more so than managing land for wildlife. Even in good organic gardening...

I read somewhere that a dead tree supports more wildlife than a living one. I don't know if this is true or not, but if it is, I wouldn't be surprised. We have many dead Maritime Pine (Pinus pinaster) and they are full of life. Some of the standing dead trees have 5 or 6 holes up the trunks....maybe...

Its difficult to spot exactly what birds are eating isn't it....a flock takes off when you go into a field and its already too late to see what they were after. The goldfinches I too have definitely seen on knapweed, so that seems a pretty firm favorite. Last week I saw them on short grass near the ...

Sorry, just noticed it was Jon who posted! ...so, couldn't agree more Jon, (and Amy!)

Couldn't agree more Amy, here, we seem to have a whole new population of goldfinches. On first arriving here, I didnt observe any, but since I started leaving the seedheads in the field as long as possible I have noticed many more. Some parts I don't scythe until march so the seedheads are there all...

Hello John
Why should its use be 'of course' kept to a minimum?