Cowslip

Our lawn was obliterated by builders' rubble when we had our house extended a few years ago. It was an opportunity to try and replace it with something a little more species rich. Simon gave me a bag of mixed seed collected from local limestone grasslands, and clearly this contained cowslip seeds for they are thriving in the lawn and becoming more numerous each year.

The cowslip is a plant of old grasslands and verges, one of the more conspicuous of the species that have taken a bit of a battering from agricultural intensification. Not rare, but nothing like as common and numerous as they were before the 1950's. The plant used to thrive in old cow pastures, and hence its name, which is a euphemism for cow slop.

The main purpose for being in the garden this morning when the sun came out after the overnight rain was, of course, to look for Reg. Later in the day, one of our neighbours brought their spaniel in to see if he could sniff him out, but there was no joy.

But I have had reassurance today talking to my friend and colleague A, from whose family in London Reg moved to Cumbria. When she spoke to them, they were unperturbed by his disappearance. Reg has a record for heading for shrubs and dense leaf litter, and then digging in. On occasions he was found so deeply buried that only the top of his shell was showing. They are confident that one warm day soon, when he's feeling hungry, he will emerge from his hiding place. And in the meantime, the cherry tomatoes and now strawberries will be there to tempt him. There is talk of perhaps playing him a recording of A's mother's voice which in the past would always rouse him from sleep and hiding to have a treat. So optimism has returned today.