Meadows review 2024

Now that the meadows are cut the strange season can be reviewed. There was definitely some major differences in the flower succession and frequency which I think are have been influenced by weather effects and also large numbers of rabbits and deer. Of course the frequency of many flowers does vary year by year as the meadow very gradually heads towards a stable mix of species over decades. It is fascinating watching species spread from often just a few examples to thousands and then recede into some sort of balance. Examples include Lousewort that started with 3 or 4 flowers in the West Field and ended up for the last two years with whole areas dominated by it. This year, hardly any at all in the West Field though it has appeared sparsely in the other fields for the first time. Also Eyebright that has in the last three years taken over huge areas (photo above)whilst the previously ubiquitous Yellow Rattle has subsided greatly. I am interested in the way different species ebb and flow but for eleven years the orchid numbers have just increased year on year from 11 orchids in 2012 to 945 in 2023 but this year only 312! I think there are two main causes, some weather effects and rabbits (and deer) predation. The impact of weather is indicated by the deer and rabbit prove cage I constructed in 2023. In its first year there were 178 orchids in the cage which is about 10m by 5m. This year there were 84, so a drop of about 50%. Neither deer nor rabbits responsible. Also a second cage added this year (this time in the west field) had only 14 orchids and I was expecting a lot more. However outside this cage the drop is much bigger. Orchids outside the cage last year were 945-178= 767. Outside the cage this year were 312-84 =228 so a drop of 70%. I think this extra drop is due to rabbits mainly of which there were record numbers this year. One thing that might have affected the situation is that we were away in April when some orchid rosettes would have been appearing. Had I been here then I would have been protecting them from rabbits so it is possible that more came up and were destroyed in my absence. I think I'll know more next year!