Nature post of the day - Cowslips

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When I posted recently about the wonderful spring flowers I was admiring in the nearby woods, @MALUSE commented that I had omitted to mention the cowslips. Funnily enough I had planned to write about cowslips in a different post, because around here cowslips do not grow in the woods but are plants of open meadows, and since the decline of the traditional meadows they are increasingly found on roadside verges, as are a variety of other plants that were once common in fields. Modern, multi-lane fast roads with their wide verges along the edges and sometimes also in the middle are bad news for wild animals as the task of crossing from one side to another is so daunting and dangerous. For plants though they seem to be good news; areas of ground that are not cultivated or intensively grazed but only occasionally mown, and where seeds can be spread along by the draught of passing vehicles. Primroses and cowslips seem to do especially well around here; these impressive banks of cowslips are growing in masses along the side of the M40 motorway. All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2016.