Meadow
Nikkor 200-500/5.6 VR @200mm, f9, Nikon Z 6
07.01, 1st June 2021 (correct EXIF)
Back-lit; hawthorn in a rolling meadow skirted with woodland edges on warmth accumulating chalk bedrock.
One week on, and numerous grasses and more robust flowering plants overgrow patches of buttercups. At the time of writing, bunches of yellow rattle show their delicate flowers and tens and tens of blue butterflies spread over the meadow. When I was smaller than the grass of a meadow, I was so struck by the sight of this butterfly in a sunlit sea of magical grass “wood” I sought advice from mum whether that can be and that it indeed was a butterfly. As if the meadow wasn’t magical enough when this blue jewel landed in front of the little face.
A small digger is used to remove the upper layer of soil on a couple of spots and expose the chalk undersoil in shallow ditches. They, and the soil piled on the sides, make place for plants that wouldn’t grow here otherwise. In the past, such jobs were done by large mammals like the wisent or aurochs (low-intensity grazing that takes place here also helps). It makes for natural insect diversity of this small reserve, including rare butterflies typical for this chalk complex. Peppered with shrub and bush aggregations, the meadows offer cover to predators like fox all year round. Signs of kill, and kits playing with it, show that larger birds sustained here in great numbers like the wood pigeon, magpie, jackdaw, crow are a large part of their hunting efforts and diet (cats, likely rodents, too). The birds are foraging and actively hunting insects that move in and around the meadow.
South East, NR
