Mottey Meadows

Mottey Meadows is a National Nature Reserve managed by Natural England found on the edge of  Staffordshire village Wheaton Aston. In the summer it is a mass of colour with plants like Scabious, Ragged Robin and Great Burnett, but at this time of year the wood anemone is just about coming to the end

whilst the Marsh Marigold, Cuckoo Flower and Snakeshead Fritilary are just starting to come into flower.

Mottey Meadow is the most northerly area in England where Snakeshead Fritilary grows naturally, there aren't hundreds like  North Meadow Cricklade and as a consequence they are counted, marked by a stick placed in the ground near by individual plants and protected against browsing hares and pecking pigeons with wire cages.

In Wheaton Aston Snakeshead Fritilary are also known as folfalarum

Trust me there isn't much protection out on those meadows when these April showers hit, we got soaked.

If you want to brave the weather and view these magnificent meadows to see these beautiful flowers up close there is a public walk organised for this Monday evening 23rd April for more details please click here.
If you want to know more about Mottey Meadows - you can view this fab video

Mottey Meadows and the folfalarium

Today Mr Smith and I enjoyed a wonderful afternoon walk around part of the Mottey Meadow nature reserves at Wheaton Aston, Staffordshire. The walk was led by Tim and Mel of Natural England. It is great going on walks with experts on tap to name all the interesting fauna and flora, and to give interesting adages about the history of the place.
Mottey Meadows is one of a handful of natural lowland hay meadows in Britain. It has been part of the Wheaton Aston way of life for centuries, producing particularly good hay.
It is also believed to be the most northern site in Britain where naturally occuring Snakes Head Fritilary, or as Staffordshire folk call them, folfalarium, can be found. In the summer the meadows are full of flowers, so hopefully I will return then and photograph a selection.

Mottey Meadows.

 It was a really good turn out.

And as you can see a lot of photo's were being taken.

Cages have been placed around the Fritilaries to stop the hares nibbling at them and yes we saw a couple of those too.

Although some weren't protected by cages so we did get better views than this.

The Snakes Head Fritilary

They come in white too.

As well as fritilaries we also saw wood anenome

Marsh marigold

ladies smock.

and this tiny adders tongue fern

We also saw curlew, buzzards, lapwing, hares and this little chap

A frog

Mottey meadows hosts several guided walks throughout the year and I can highly recommend them. This wasn't my first visit and hopefully it won't be my last.

but for now it's back to my home and garden.