Chiltern Gentian

A buzz in a little brown packet

For sale – Kidney Vetch Wildflower Seed Mixture

Kidney Vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria) is my favourite part of the seed mixture because it’s so good as a source of nectar and pollen for insects.  This seed mix was taken from an outstanding Oxfordshire wildflower meadow with a brush-harvester. It’s totally natural (proved by the seed pods and bits of dried flower!) so you’re getting the combination of flowers and grasses that were actually growing in the pasture. Content weight: approximately 3 grams in each packet.

Great for wildlife
I also call this wildflower seed mixture my ’Small Blue mix’ because Kidney Vetch is the foodplant for the caterpillar of the Small Blue butterfly. Small Blue is on the priority list for UK Biodiversity and the famous wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation. You can download a Small Blue factsheet from the Butterfly Conservation website.

 

Bees just love Kidney Vetch and when you see bumblebees delving into the vetch for nectar, you can see how well adapted the flowers are – it fits snugly, and daubs the visitor with pollen. This and other members of the pea family – like Gorse – are important nectar sources in May and early June. Wildlife gardeners know that wild bees need our help, and they are so useful to a garden, as pollinators.

Growing hints
Kidney Vetch likes alkaline/limey conditions and it does best as a coloniser of bare patches and gravelly areas. It even germinates in the hoofprints left by cattle, the ideal grazing companion. Beware – they get eaten out by sheep and rabbits.

Because this is a mixture of seeds it could be something you sow anywhere, but alkaline soils, and especially chalky soils will be best.

I’ve been very pleased to see Kidney Vetch has successfully germinated in a ‘butterfly scrape’ which I excavated to expose bare chalk. I raked over the ground to create a shallow seed bed. After sprinkling the seed I raked it over again and stamped over the whole area to ensure good seed-soil contact. Watering is a good idea, of course, or sow when plenty of rain is due.

My Kidney Vetch mixture on ebay

Comma butterfly framed photo for sale

A portrait of a Comma, rich and vibrant. Its perch is a blackberry bush - where you might well see a Comma as summer nears its end. This portrait is similar to the ‘landscape’ picture of a Comma at www.poppyfield-gallery.com/comma.htm

For sale on ebay for the first time.

My photography

Nature is my main inspiration, and my work ranges from landscape such as this, to close-up pictures of the natural world, or artistic interpretations. Poppies are a favourite of mine, hence the name of my online gallery. Please take a moment to look through some more of my photography at poppyfield-gallery.com

Most of my buyers are fellow nature lovers. Some of my photographs have been published, e.g. in BBC Wildlife Magazine, BBC Countryfile Magazine, Birdwatching Magazine, and I have written a few articles for BBC Berkshire.

A few words on quality

I shoot Canon cameras, use the Canon FINE printer system and only use professional paper for my framed prints! My equipment is powered by Ecotricity. Oak wood frame, with a glass front. Ivory-coloured card mount, titled and signed. Frame tape on the back to keep out dust. (If you request hanging loops and picture wire I can add these free-of-charge. Email me after you win the item.)

For sale on ebay for the first time.

Frog Vibrations

Frog Chorus has begun. Read my Natureheads blog to learn more about these croakers.

Large White