Down in the meadows

Wandering through the meadows at Ready Token on a hot summer’s day, when drifts of common bentgrass (Agrostis capillaris) produce swathes of a light purple haze, with a constant array of different butterflies shimmering on all sides, is a joy.

The many butterflies include rarities, such as the brown argus and small blue. Among the wildflowers are common favourites, such as ox-eye daisies and red clover, which are now producing wide drifts every summer, and others that were once meadow staples, including field scabious, bird’s-foot trefoil and the deeppink corncockle. Most choice are the bee and pyramidal orchids, the latter of which have naturalised quite spectacularly, producing a swathe of more than 100 plants along the edge of one meadow.

The rewilding at Ready Token does not involve any large mammals. Its biggest successes are probably barn owls, but, mostly, it has been about small wildflowers, butterflies and moths, birds and invertebrates. Their arrival and subsequent thriving expansion in a few years is powerful testament to what can be achieved by returning appropriate land to gently managed Nature. The practice is epitomised by the appearance of the parrot waxcap mushroom (Gliophorus psittacinus), which will not grow in ground that has been artificially fertilised.