Tim Hill, Conservation Manager at the Trust introduces us to two May-flowering plants that create quite a spectacle at Hunsdon Meads.

Either catch the train to Roydon or park in Roydon village or Harlow and saunter down the towpath of the River Stort navigation to Hunsdon Mead for a yellow spectacle that is unique in Hertfordshire. Here you will be confronted by a sea of buttercups underlain by a carpet of Cowslips. The sheer scale of the flower meadow is enough to take your breath away, stretching for over a kilometre between the canal and old River Stort. 

Cowslips

At Hunsdon Mead there are quite literally thousands of Cowslips. It’s thought that the name comes from the old English for cow dung (cow ‘slups’) as historically, the flowers would be found growing amongst the cow pats on damp, slippery ground in riverside meadows such as Hunsdon Mead – we should think ‘cow slips’ rather than ‘cow’s lips’. It is a plant of the primula family with dull, fleshy, wrinkly leaves with up to 30 sulphur yellow flowers jostling atop a stem about 20 cm long. Pollination is by long-tongued insects such as some species of butterflies, moths and bees. The seeds take a long time to ripen, not normally being shed until July. It is the county flower of our neighbouring county, Essex.

Green-winged Orchids 

Whilst it’s the buttercups and Cowslips that provide the overwhelming spectacle at Hunsdon Mead there is a plant altogether rarer for those willing to search hard and get dirty knees. Green-winged Orchids have been bucking the national declines and increasing slowly here for the last few years. It was formerly a widespread species in Hertfordshire but degradation and loss of habitat has left it restricted to just a handful of places. This small purple-flowered plant is easily overlooked amongst the surrounding vegetation. To appreciate it fully means getting down to its low level which means hands and knees or ideally prostrate – there’s nothing more amusing than seeing a bunch of naturalists lying around on their bellies paying homage to this diminutive orchid! It’s worth getting down and dirty though as this is only way to see the winged’ petals green stripes, from which the orchid gets its name.

Whilst searching out Tim’s suggestions at Hunsdon Mead, it’s also worth keeping a look out for these May-flowering plants:

Cuckooflower

The Cuckooflower, which is also known as Lady’s-smock, is a sure sign that spring has arrived. Look out for this delicate pale pink flower in the wet meadow. If you can’t get to Hunsdon Mead, scour roadside verges, ditches or damp, grassy places for sightings.

Marsh Marigold

The golden, five-petalled flowers of Marsh Marigold is a cheery sight for both people and wildlife.  Although viewed as a widespread flower of ponds, marshes, damp meadows, ditches and wet woodland, Marsh Marigold was added to the ‘GB Red List for Vascular Plants’ published by the Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland (BSBI) last November, assessing it as a threatened species (read our news story here).

Marsh Marigold is also a good plant to add to a wildlife-friendly pond, providing shelter for frogs and early nectar for insects.

Find out more about Hunsdon Mead Nature Reserve and what you can spot there throughout the seasons here.