Open Meadows 2022 invite

[Jane W]

Well, I think it remains a mystery exactly what Monty Don meant...( for reference it's in his recent book 'Down to Earth' page 109 under 'Grass and Wildflower Meadows') .....
As a proper 'amateur' with no real higher education in Biology, all this is always a learning curve for me.....and partly why it's such a brilliant experience having a meadow.
Thanks for comments which I've really enjoyed reading and learning from.

It has been very interesting to learn that a lot ( but not all! ) nectar and pollen seeking insects are fairly generalist and not overly fussy where the nectar comes from, but often are much more fussy where they lay their eggs ( thanks for this info Donna), and in this sense, grass and other native foliage, definitely does seem to be really incredibly important doesn't it?

I have a friend here who removes the caterpillars of the lovely Swallowtail butterfly off her fennel plants and raises them in a cage. In this way their survival rate is virtually 100% and she releases them as soon as they become butterflies. She gave me a fennel plant for the garden and 2 years later I was thrilled with 3 caterpillars. When I saw the beautiful new butterfly in my neighbour's garden,( to my mind savagely over-mowed and manicured) feeding on some imported shrub, I was slightly miffed.
Now I realise how fantastic that was,that it found the food source that it needed....on a Chinese camelia, or whatever it was.
I'm guessing that every meadow has dearths and times when flowers are absent, and especially in the early years, when we're trying to get soil fertility down.
Here, I find early June a bit bare. There are orchids but I don't often see butterflies or bees feeding on them. I have the unedifying vision of masses of Ringlets and Meadow Brown and Marbled White appearing at a time when most flowers are still a couple of weeks away from flowering.
Nice to know that they have some flexibility about where they can find food. ...but there are many things I don't understand clearly.
I wonder if anyone knows what a butterfly, bee or moth does when it can't immediately find food....do they just die off by the dozen, (but it doesn't matter in survival terms because more will be along later.)
Can butterflies mate and lay their eggs without the need to feed ( assuming a mate is available). The individual might die but the cycle has been completed.
Is it likely that a butterfly or moth will perish due to lack of nectar? Or, in a healthy and diverse environment are there always hidden sources of nectar.
My many bramble patches that I didn't get round to scything in winter keep the world and his dog in nectar I expect.
Your meadows sound fascinating Ruth...it sounds as if you may not necessarily have masses of flowers as you describe them as 'grassy meadows', but do you have moths, bees, butterflies even so?

[Jane W]

P.S. 'Don't try this at home kids'....I must just mention that my friend does her swallowtail raising under the guidance of the county's top lepidopterist and with full knowledge and permission of environmental organisations! I'm pretty sure it is illegal to remove wild animals from the environment, (although whether gardens count I do not know). Anyhow, it is a pretty specialised skill to raise caterpillars and they're best left in the wild unless you really know what you're doing.