In autumn 2009 we seeded a meadow in the corner of one of Archie's potato fields at Sparkford, next to the A303. The idea was to test some of the mixes I was being offered by suppliers, and to show people:
A) How easy it can be
B) How meadows evolve
C) How beautiful they are
To see how it has developed click on one of the photos to find a gallery, or just search for "Archie" to find related posts.
I pop down there with the dogs every couple of weeks to hoik out the odd thistle, and took my camera with me yesterday. It's really beginning to take off - and not just visually. The thing I really love about establishing meadow areas is to see how they change and to watch their associated fauna arrive. It's great playing God. I didn't see anything rare or bizarre yesterday, but things are stirring; talking about just lepidoptera, I bumped into Small Tortoiseshells and Marbled Whites ("found in flowery grassland" - hurrah!), Meadow Browns and Six-spot Burnets. So next time you've zoomed past Sparkford roundabout eastbound keep a look out for it, on your left hand side, and ask yourself whether you couldn't do something similar.
In autumn 2009 we seeded a meadow in the corner of one of Archie's potato fields at Sparkford, next to the A303. The idea was to test some of the mixes I was being offered by suppliers, and to show people:
A) How easy it can be
B) How meadows evolve
C) How beautiful they are
To see how it has developed click on one of the photos to find a gallery, or just search for "Archie" to find related posts.
I pop down there with the dogs every couple of weeks to hoik out the odd thistle, and took my camera with me yesterday. It's really beginning to take off - and not just visually. The thing I really love about establishing meadow areas is to see how they change and to watch their associated fauna arrive. It's great playing God. I didn't see anything rare or bizarre yesterday, but things are stirring; talking about just lepidoptera, I bumped into Small Tortoiseshells and Marbled Whites ("found in flowery grassland" - hurrah!), Meadow Browns and Six-spot Burnets.
So next time you've zoomed past Sparkford roundabout
eastbound keep a look out for it, on your left hand side, and ask yourself whether you couldn't do something similar.