The magic of Folly Farm has always been about
plants and animals that were once common but have now been lost
from many of their former haunts. Rupert Higgins, who has been
involved with the nature reserve since it was first acquired
by the Trust, tells you here how to spot these special species
- look out for them on other Trust nature reserves too!
| Corky-fruited
water-dropwort There are several similar-looking species
of small umbellifers in the grasslands at Folly Farm. This plant
is most easily told in the late summer when the fibrous swellings
around its seeds, which give it its name, are easy to see and
feel. Earlier in the season check for its hairless leaves and
stems, and leaves that are broad and divided into many segments
at the base but thin and linear further up the stem. |
|
Buzzard
Unless you’re extremely fortunate the only broad-winged
bird of prey you’ll see at Folly Farm is buzzard. It often
announces its presence with a thin rising keee-ow call, emanating
from a brown, finely patterned bird that characteristically
soars on slightly raised wings, but may also glide on flatter
wings or even hover clumsily. Buzzards are very variable, and
extremely pale birds are not unusual. They are never very dark,
however, and a black soaring bird is likely to be a raven. |
| Devil’s-bit
scabious In July and August it is hard to miss this plant
on the grassland slopes at Folly Farm, when its deep bluish-purple
pincushion-like flowers colour whole swathes of grassland. These
grow in threes on stems about 30cm tall. Devil’s-bit scabious
is one of the key indicators of unimproved grassland, whose
abundance here tells us that these fields have not been sprayed
with chemicals. |
|
Marsh
fritillary A combination of persistence and good fortune
are usually required to see this species. Patient observation
in late May or early June may be rewarded with views of a rather
sluggish butterfly, which sports a beautiful chequerboard pattern
in orangey-brown, black and white. Look for it close to swathes
of its larval foodplant, devil’s-bit scabious. |
| Badger
You’ll have to stay up late to see the distinctive black
and white striped face that we all know, but signs of badger
activity are easy to find during the day. Look for well-trodden
paths and trace these back to a fence or bramble where a quick
search should reveal badger hairs, stiff and wirey, pale at
one end and dark at the other. The rather sloppy droppings are
deposited in a dung pit, and play a role in territorial marking. |
|
Green
woodpecker The combination of veteran trees and abundant
ant hills makes Folly Farm an ideal site for green woodpeckers,
which spend most of their time feeding on the ground. Their
most common call is the famous laughing “yaffle”
and they do not drum like the other British woodpeckers. The
usual view is of a large green bird with a startling yellow
rump disappearing with a distinctive bounding flight. |
| Barn
owl There is little mistaking the ghostly white floating
shape of a barn owl, and the British countryside offers few
more stirring sights. This species is less vocal than most other
owls, which is perhaps just as well given its repertoire of
blood-curdling screams and yelps. It is not strictly nocturnal
and in mid-summer, when nights are short and there are hungry
mouths to be fed, barn owls can be watched hunting some time
before sunset. |
|
Ramsons
The damp clay woodland soils are ideal for ramsons, or wild
garlic, which carpets extensive areas. No other garlic or onion
species in Britain has broad leaves, which begin to appear as
early as February. In the spring compact heads of white flowers
are borne on short stalks, but you’ll usually smell ramsons
before you see it, especially if you bruise the leaves by treading
on them. |
| Heath-spotted
orchid You’ll need to look for this orchid in June,
when it grows in dense swathes on a few steep slopes. It has
triangular heads of small pale pink or white flowers. It forms
hybrids with common spotted orchid, from which it can be distinguished
by its paler flowers and its rounded lower lip, which lacks
the prominent central tooth of common spotted. The petals often
have an intricate tracery of fine dots, unlike the coarser streaks
of common spotted orchid |
|
Dyer’s
greenweed This plant, found in the grassy slopes, bears
dense heads of bright yellow vetch-like flowers, followed by
small pea pods. It is related to gorse, though only a foot high,
and like it is woody at the base, but it lacks spines and its
bright green leaves are undivided. It was formerly used as the
source of a dye, and a sprig of this plant in the cap of Henry
of Anjou gave the Plantagenet royal house its name (from its
Latin name, genista). |
photos: marsh fritillary © David Ireland,
green woodpecker © Nick Martin, badger, buzzard, devil’s
bit scabious © Darin Smith
