A Sign

Yellow Rattle, Rhinanthus minor. Nikon D5200 Tokina 100mm f22 1/250 ISO 100

Yellow Rattle has very positive associations for me – summer, meadows, insects, biodiversity – just seeing the first flowers of the year makes me happy. A thing of beauty and an increasing rarity. Yellow rattle is a “hemi-parasite” reducing the vigour of meadow grasses which would otherwise choke many wildflowers. Its appearance in a meadow is likely to be the sign of a biologically diverse site (orchid watch!), but yellow rattle is loathed by farmers who are interested in growing grass not flowers.
Please excuse the poor image, taken in a hurry in very poor light. Moments after this shot we beat a hasty retreat from the Longhorn bull on conservation grazing duty…
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