Hi Wild Friends!
This week we thought we'd share a few of the wildflowers I see when I am out on my daily exercise at the moment. There are lots of stunning flowers popping up on verges, grassland, by the river and even in our gardens that we all pass each day.
If you get the time to really look at them it’s incredible how beautiful and detailed they all are. Check out our video introduction to this below with suggestions of what to look out for to identify some wildflowers. There are also lots of great pocket sized I.D books available out there. I like to use the iNaturalist phone App.
Cuckoo Flower
I spotted these lovely Cuckoo Flowers, and there seems to be an abundance of them around this year. It has lots of names, I know it better as Ladies Smock but it is also known as the Mayflower, Milkmaid or the Fairy Flower. It grows in damp verges and meadows.
Look out for its lovely delicate pale lilac/pink flowers in clusters with yellow anthers inside quite tall on thin stems with little thin stemmed leaflets. The Orange tip butterfly loves this flower!
Marsh Marigold
This cheerful member of the buttercup family lives in damp woodland. I saw this flower and others whilst walking a path by the river. It’s a beautiful sturdy plant. It has 5 golden yellow cup shaped sepals (not petals) and dark green shiny heart shaped leafs on a stong hollow stem. As it’s so bright they are pretty easy to spot even from afar.
Wood Anemone
In full flower at this time of the year (March-May) is the Wood Anemone. It is found in mature woodland, and is an indicator that you are likely standing in an ancient woodland site.
It grows in great swathes like these ones. The gentle white leafed flower head turns in the direction of the sun throughout the day. It has 3 distinctive lobed leaves.
A joy to see.
Slender Speedwell
This tiny little wildflower is often overlooked growing in grasslands and even sometimes on your lawn! It has lovely bluish flowers with white tips and kidney shaped leaves.
It’s also sometimes known as Creeping Speedwell as it creeps through the grass. Keep an eye out for it.
Lesser Celandine
I love this Wildflower. It can be found in hedgerow and open woodland. It’s the first of the buttercup family to appear in spring. Growing low to the ground its bright cheery yellow petals stand out from its dark green shiny heart-shaped leaves, the flowers will only open up in the sun so look out for them. This is a good one to compare to the old faithful Creeping Buttercup or the Marsh Marigold – all from the same Family but they have differences!
I hope you've enjoyed a wee look at my local wildflowers. I'm sure you'll spot lots of different ones too!
Take care & stay safe!
Love from WILD