Tipton's Croft

A field in Shropshire, England

Category: Plants

  • The dead oak is proper dead

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    The storm last night brought down the dead oak in the corner of the field. A great shame as it was quite majestic. It also housed the owl box but fortunately it was unoccupied (the owls are currently residing somewhere else) and miraculously undamaged.

    On closer inspection the tree had almost no roots left and so it was just a matter of time before it came down. We’ll cut back some of the branches to make it safer and easier to get around. It’s quite rotten so of no use so we might leave the main part where it is to gently decompose into the ground: good for the wildlife and much less effort. Vale quercu!

    The dead oak in better times

  • 123

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    We have now identified a total of 123 different wildflowers at Tipton’s Croft. Some have become very common and can be seen every summer all over the meadow: such as common knapweed and bird’s-foot trefoil. Others we are unlikely to see that much: common poppies and cornflowers like ploughed fields rather than meadows. All are welcome though.

  • 11 newbies

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    Hemp-agrimony
    Marsh woundwort
    Hedge woundwort
    Betony
    Great burnet
    Meadowsweet
    Gypsywort
    Hedge bedstraw
    Ground elder
    Greater celandine
    Cut-leaved crane’s-bill

    Now we’re heading into autumn there won’t be any more wildflowers this year so here are all the new ones we’ve spotted. This takes the total number of different wildflowers at Tipton’s Croft to 123.

  • Our favourite time of the year

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  • New wildflowers

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    Hedge Woundwort
    Betony
    Meadowsweet
    Hemp-Agrimony
    Gypsywort
    Hedge Bedstraw
    Ground Elder
    Greater Celandine
    Cut-Leaved Crane’s-Bill

    Nine new appearances so far this year. Some likely from seed we’ve sown but not all.

  • Different year, different flowers

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    The meadow looks different every year. This year the mass of common knapweed on the small hill has been replaced by rosebay willowherb, hedge bedstraw, bird’s-foot trefoil and oxeye daisy with even more bird’s-foot trefoil in the field. The bees will be pleased.

  • First cuckoo flower of spring

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    Not so many this year, perhaps due to the long wet winter.

  • New faces

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    Six Five new wildflowers identified so far this year. They may not be rare but they’re joining a growing list, now up to 106 different wildflowers her at Tipton’s Croft.

    Hairy bitter-cress
    Primrose
    Lords-and-ladies
    Red dead-nettle
    Daffodil (native)

    Make it seven six! Here’s garlic mustard (but not in flower yet).

    Update: we have misidentified the yellow archangel as a native wildflower. This one is actually an invasive non-native subspecies (Lamiastrum galeobdolon spp argentatum) so we are now busy removing it from the edge of the field. The pale patches on the leaves are what makes it distinct from the native variety.

    Invasive non-native interloper!

  • 100!

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    We have now identified 100 different wildflowers in the field. Some are common, some are rare, some were here before us, some we introduced and some arrived on their own. All of them are native or naturalised English wildflowers and though many of them would be considered weeds in a garden they are all welcome here!

    www.tiptonscroft.org.uk/blog/flora/

  • Early summer at the Croft

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    Oxeye daisies, meadow buttercup, yellow rattle, ragged robin and a sunset

  • Ragged robin

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    The first time we’ve seen this wildflower in the field. Particularly attractive to long-tongued bees, apparently.

  • Spring has arrived

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    Cuckoo flowers have appeared in the meadow: small clusters of pink flowers amongst the raggedy early growth of grasses. A sure sign that spring has finally arrived, though a little later than last year and for some reason that flowers a lot pinker than usual.

    The ground is getting very dry now and the clay soil turning to rock. We’re probably going to have to start watering all the new saplings that we planted this winter as their new roots will be desperately searching for moisture. Not something we usually have to do in April.