Meadows and the Yorkshire Dales

click photo to enlarge
There are few areas of Britain with a landscape that isn't heavily modified by man or that still exhibits climax vegetation. And, whilst most people know that this is true of lowland, agricultural areas with their improved fields, hedges and obvious drainage, rather fewer appreciate that it is also the case in most upland regions too.

This is as true of the Yorkshire Dales as it is of the Lake District, Dartmoor or the North York Moors. On my recent visit to the Dales, standing above Langcliffe, overlooking the Ribble valley, the limestone above Stainforth and the distant peak of Ingleborough, I made a mental effort to imagine what the mountains, hills and valleys would look like without the past few thousand years of man's influence. Gone would be the drystone walls that characterise the limestone and gritstone areas. Gone too most of the closely cropped grass that sheep produce. The fields of the valley-sides and much of the moorland would have large areas of scrub and trees with only summits and exposed or wet areas clear. Valley bottoms would be thick with trees and streams and rivers wouldn't be confined to single channels by excavation, bank reinforcement and levees. The variety of plant and animal life would be much greater too. A few areas of the Dales - and other upland and lowland areas too - retain ancient characteristics. However, we shouldn't forget that the landscape that people admire, and which is protected by statute in the form of National Park status is, for the most part, man-made.

Some of those artificial features are, it has to be said, very attractive. Take meadows. These are entirely the product of farming, of the need to produce a grass crop that can be stored and used to feed animals during the winter months. When I lived in this area I enjoyed watching and occasionally helping with the hay harvest. I appreciated too the way that flowers - buttercups, vetch, clover, cowslips, scabious and more -  populated the hay meadows before the grass was cut. In the last quarter of the twentieth century silage supplemented and replaced hay on many farms. However, hay fields never disappeared entirely though their flowers frequently did as maximising the crop led to the application of nitrogen and other chemicals. Today I get the impression that with a greater awareness and the subsidies available for "environmental" farming, that hay has made something of a comeback. Not just hay, but deliberately planted wildflower meadows such as this one at Lower Winskill where farming and environmental education exist side-by-side.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo 1
Camera: Sony RX100
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 18.5mm (50mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/640
ISO: 125
Exposure Compensation:  -0.7 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Wind turbines and dog daisies

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Drifting clouds above, drifts of dog daisies below. And, drifting by in the mid-distance, to the left of the nearest wind turbine, a buzzard. I took this photograph on one of those June afternoons when the light is bright, the air is clear because the temperature's around 16 Celsius, and the world is looking at its best. Yes, even with hulking great wind turbines dotted about!

I'd gone to the wind farm for two reasons. Firstly to get a photograph or two, and secondly to have a look at the wildlife areas that surround the associated electricity sub-station, and check on the growth of the trees, bushes, grasses and flowers. The Fens is an intensively cultivated area of England, with cereals and vegetables predominating (though near these turbines is a fruit farm), and relatively few cattle and sheep (though both could be seen from this spot). What it doesn't have that most other areas of the country do is extensive pasture. There are pieces here and there, but nothing on a big scale except along the banks of the larger, canal-like drains. It also lacks woodlands of any size and patches of uncultivated land are rare. Consequently, the deliberate planting of an area to encourage wildlife is to be applauded. This one isn't large, but in a Fenland location even a small reserve makes a significant contribution to biodiversity.

On the day of my visit the dog daisies were flowering in profusion - banks of white and yellow heads were everywhere dancing on the breeze. Birds were flitting here and there too. In twenty minutes of looking over the reserve I saw yellowhammers, skylarks, reed buntings, house sparrows, starlings, tree sparrows, sedge warblers, a whitethroat, red-legged partridges, kestrels, greenfinches, goldfinches, magpies, blue tits, great tits, a little owl and pied wagtails. Beyond its confines was the buzzard, carrion crows, pheasants, wood pigeons and collared doves. I know that if I'd visited nearer to sunset there would have been barn owls and tawny owls too.

A while ago I wrote a blog entry entitled "Co-existence" about how wind farms, farming and wildlife try to live alongside each other. It was illustrated with a photograph taken from near the distant tree line in the image above. As I drove home from today's outing I thought about the wildlife I'd seen in the shadow of the turbines and pylons, and wondered whether there were other areas that could be similarly exploited to further improve that co-existence.

photograph and text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 14mm (28mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/1000
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.7 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Wild flower gardens

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Q.When is wild flower a weed?
A.When it's growing in your garden, or among the farm crops.

All of the flowers that we grow in our gardens have been developed from wild flowers. Some, for example pelargoniums, roses, tulips and fuchsias, have been bred to the point where there are varieties that are very different from the original stock. Others, such as the primrose and bluebell are often barely distinguishable from their wild forebears. And, whilst it is true to say that some cultivars are more handsome than the plants they are descended from, more often, in my view, the wild original has a more delicate, subtle beauty.

When plant breeders develop their strains they are often looking for bigger, more numerous and showier blooms, in colours that are unusual, and that last longer. They have been very successful in their endeavours, achieving all those goals, and offering the gardener "more bang for their buck" in flowering plants. But, in so doing they have frequently lost some of the qualities that first drew people to those plants in the first place. Delicate colours, simple flower heads, translucent petals, an unaffected innocence, are too frequently replaced by opulent, urbane sophistication. Perhaps that's one of the reasons why, in recent years, people have created wild flower gardens: they are seeking to recapture some of those qualities that have been lost.

In the Lincolnshire village where I live a neighbour has recently established a wild flower garden on a wide area of grass verge. The plot lies by the side of the road with a stream on one side and a medieval church on the other. In four short months, with only a little help, she has turned a piece of grass that had a few common wild plants growing in it, into a lovely, colour-flecked area that offers a visual delight to all who pass by. The other day, after I'd been to the post office with a letter, I doubled back to photograph the poppies, cornflowers, yarrow and all the other wild flowers that now grow there. Here's one of the images that I took.

Addendum: Internet Explorer is a real pain. I have three browsers on my computer and IE8 is the odd one out when it comes to text wrapping round the images. Today, to stop it filling the right side of the picture with words split into one or two letters per line (the other browsers fit words into the space), I've had to centre the image. Not a big problem you might think. No, but one that shouldn't exist. It seems Microsoft is still going its own way and refusing to confirm to WWW standards.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 64mm (128mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/160 seconds
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On