What a hot and dry July we had so far here in Reading; a proper summer at last. Just a bit of rain would be nice as our meadows are starting to suffer from the heat and lack of rain.
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| Meadow in Caversham Crematorium |
The annual meadows have started to flower now and you can see orange Californian poppies (Eschscholzia californica), red Corn poppies (Papaver rhoeas), purple Virginia stock (Malcomia maritima), white Sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima), white Showy baby`s breath (Gypsophila elegans), yellow and orange Pot marigold (Calendula officinalis) and blue, pink and purple Cornflowers (Centaurea cyanus) in the meadows. Most of the flower meadows look really colourful at the moment and we hope that they will survive the heatwave.
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| A sea of Californian poppies in Caversham Crematorium |
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| Bumblebees like the Californian poppies |
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| Showy Baby`s breath and Corn poppy in Coley Recreation Ground |
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| Our colourful meadow in Palmer Park |
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| The meadow in Prospect Park, all white and pink |
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| Californian poppies, Virginia stock and Red poppies growing together |
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| The meadow in Rabson Recreation Ground is full of Corn poppies |
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| Our meadow in Victoria recreation ground in Tilehurst |
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| Bumblebees love the self-sown Borage in one of our meadows |
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| The meadow in Whitley Wood Recreation Ground |
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| Our meadow in Cintra Park |
The perennial meadows still look very good. Ox-eye daisies (Leucanthemum vulgare) have mostly finished flowering now and have given way to lots of wild carrots (Daucus carota), Black knapweed (Centaurea nigra) and Yarrow (Achillea millefolium).
Musk mallow (Malva moschata) is still flowering as well as Bird`s-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), Hawksbeard (Crepis) and the first wild marjoram (Origanum vulgaris).
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| Black knapweed and Wild carrot in Cintra Park |
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| Bumblebees like Viper`s bugloss |
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| Sampling pollinators |
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| Great diversity of flowers in the meadow in Meadway Rec Ground |
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| Vipers`s bugloss, Wild carrot and the last ox-eye daisies flowering |
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| Nice contrast between our flower meadow and the short-cut grass |
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| The meadow along Portman road is still full of Wild carrots |
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| First Wild marjoram flowering |
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| Wild carrot and Yarrow flowering in Westfield Road Rec Ground |
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| Pretty Black knapweed and Yarrow |
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| Musk mallow, Yarrow, Wild carrot and Viper`s bugloss |
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| A little solitary bee on an ox-eye daisy |
Many pollinators visit the flower meadows. Especially solitary bees such as Leafcutter bees (Megachile), Plasterer bees (Colletes) and Mason bees (Osmia) seem to be quite abundant in our meadows.
Bumblebees like to visit the poppies,
Cornflowers and Viper`s bugloss while hoverflies are attracted to the
white umbels of Wild carrot.
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| A solitary bee (Colletes) on Yarrow flowers |
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| This honeybee has covered itself in Musk mallow pollen |
Have a look yourself and visit our project meadows in Reading, Bristol, Leeds and Edinburgh. You can find the meadow locations for each town/city
here.
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