The Natural History of Keyworth Meadows

May 2010

A lot of trees have been planted around the burial ground meadow. We have used native British species; Hornbeam, Wild Cherry and Alder in keeping with the wildflower theme, (though strictly Hornbeam is not native to Nottinghamshire). We have taken advice from Naturescape (the wildflower farm at Langar) and if things go to plan we should be able to sow the field later this summer. There were a few nice species in the field before we started, some of which are still evident, including Pignut, Sorrel, Meadow Buttercup, Lesser Celandine and Yarrow and we will try to preserve these but the overriding objective is to eliminate the nettles, thistles and tough grasses before we seed the site.

There is a choice of mixes of wildflower seeds that we can select and one suited to the wetter conditions at the bottom half of the field is being recommended but whatever we choose, nature will ultimately determine what survives and does well. We are not promising a summer alpine pasture. What we hope will result is an old-fashioned meadow populated with the kind of plants that were commonplace in our great-grandparents’ time, and visited by the insects and other invertebrates that specialise in these species – especially the blue butterflies.

The other meadow (Keyworth Meadow?) has a large elm tree in one corner and following on from my success in finding the caterpillars of White-letter Hairstreak butterfly near Bunny Park I was hopeful that they were using “our” tree too – but no such luck.

As Keyworth now has (or will have) two meadows it’s become confusing – can anyone suggest imaginative names for them?

Neil Pinder