Recent news from Underway Meade

The Moorhens have been successful on the pond again this year and are currently raising one chick.It is quite active and follows its parent and demands food, though it can feed itself, but it keeps out of sight most of the time hiding in the thick reeds as the rather wobbly video below shows!

There have been some interesting plants appearing in the Meade recently, such as this Water Figwort, which as the name suggests, likes to be near water. This one is growing alongside the stream and will be polinated by common wasps.

The more well known Foxglove has also been appearing alongside the hedges and in small clumps on the mound. This is a biennial so takes two years to go from seed to flower. It is loved by bees, which feed on its pollen by delving deep into its trumpet like flowers.

It is poisonous if eaten but can be used to produce digitalis, a drug used in the treatment of heart failure and high blood pressure.

Another plant that has been quite prolific on the mound this year, probably as a result of the sheep having grazed last year and the scrub clearance, is the birds foot trefoil.The bright yellow flowers are followed by seed pods that look distinctly like bird's feet or claws, ( look carefully at the second picture below!), hence the common name. It is a food plant of the caterpillar of the Common Blue, Silver-studded Blue and Wood White butterflies, so keep your eyes open and you may be lucky enough to see them on the wing around the mound!