Wildflowers

What interesting wildflowers can we find in Tisbury and surrounding areas?

Photo: Haredene Wood (Julia Willcock), text by Debbie Carter

This is an amateur botanist’s take on the flowers from four habitat types (chalk downland, hay meadows, woodland and wetland) within reach of Tisbury and District.

Chalk downland

Photos: Andrew Carter - Gentian, Pyramid Orchid & Devil's Bit Scabious

Chalk downland is an internationally rare habitat and we are very fortunate to have many areas
with an abundance of chalk-loving plants. Old chalk grassland is one of the richest habitats in terms
of botanical diversity and can contain as many as 45 species per square metre.

What wildflowers can I see in chalk grassland?

Orchids:

Common Spotted
Bee
Pyramid
Butterfly
Burnt Tip
Fragrant
Early Purple
Frog

Other plants:

Field Scabious and Devil's Bit Scabious

Common Milkwort
Eyebright
Fairy Flax
Quaking Grass
Cowslip and Primroses
Knapweed
Horseshoe and Common Vetch, and Bird’s Eye Trefoil
Viper’s Bugloss
St John’s-wort

Thyme, Basil Thyme, and Marjoram
Lady’s and Common Bedstraw
Centaury
Harebell and Clustered Bellflower
White and Red Clover
Blue Speedwell
Dropwort

Meadow’s Cranesbill
Sainfoin
Common Restharrow
Meadow Clary
Oxeye Daisy
Broomrape
Ragwort

And, if you are lucky, you might find Gentian flowers, both the Early and Autumn Gentian.

Where can I see chalk grassland wildflowers?

Very locally: Tisbury Jubilee Meadow (at the back of the Nadder Centre). Wildflowers are increasing
yearly and include Pyramid and Bee Orchids, Broomrape, Vetches, Sainfoin, Ragwort, Oxeye Daisies
and more.

Chalk Downlands near us (Ordinance Survey grid reference for access).

Shaftesbury Drove. North and South facing. White Sheet Hill (Grid Ref.: ST 933 240)
Swallowcliffe Down and Sutton Down (Grid Ref.: ST 990 268)
Ladydown, between Tisbury and Chilmark (Good for Bee Orchids) (Grid Ref.: ST 958 307)
Fovant Down (Grid Ref.: ST 002 266)
Melbury Down & Spread Eagle Hill, National Trust (Grid Ref.: ST 886 187)
Fontmell Down, National Trust (Grid Ref.: ST 128)
Hambledon Hill, National Trust (Grid Ref.: ST 838 128)
Win Green, National Trust. (Grid Ref.: ST 924 205)
Middleton Down, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. (Grid Ref.: SU 043 252)
Coombe Bissett Down, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. (Grid Ref.: SU 111 256)
Winterbourne Down, RSPB (Grid Ref.: SU 214 401)
Cley Hill, National Trust (Grid Ref.: ST 837 443)
Battlesbury Down (Grid Ref.: ST 898 455)

Hay meadows

Photos: Andrew Carter - Butterfly Orchid, Snake's Head Fritillary & Bee Orchid

Traditional hay meadows have disappeared by over 90% due to changes in farming practice, use of artificial fertilisers, herbicides and insecticides.

What wildflowers can I see in hay meadows?

Orchids:

Southern Marsh
Bee
Common Spotted
Early Purple
Greenveined
Butterfly
Pyramid

Other wildflowers:

Snake Head Fritillaries
Cowslip
Ladies Smock
Scabious
Knapweed
Oxeye Daisy
Harebell
Poppy
Carrot

Where can I see hay meadow wildflowers?

We have two spectacular hay meadows within reach of Tisbury:

Clattinger Farm, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust (Grid Ref.: SU 012 933), accessed also from Lower Moor Farm (Grid Ref.: SU 007 939). Spectacular unimproved hay meadow full of orchids and Snake's Head Fritillaries, visit in late April for Fritillaries and June for orchids. Unsurprisingly it is an amazing site for butterflies and cuckoos.
The Kingcombe Centre, Dorset Wildlife Trust (Grid Ref.: SY 554 990). This reserve has been traditionally farmed for generations without use of artificial fertilisers, herbicides or pesticides.

Both have SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) status and are amongs the best examples of unimproved, traditionally-managed hay meadows in UK.