Variable Longhorn

Day #4 of #30dayswild was spent at Chettisham Meadow near Ely. This delightful gem is one of the flagship Coronation Meadows, and seed from it has been used to create other areas of species-rich grassland in Cambridgeshire.

Hay meadows are difficult to photograph as the eye perceives sweeps of colourful flowers, but the camera captures reality which includes a lot of green. I've tried to evoke the feeling of sitting in a hay meadow by creating a more abstract image (see extra).

Two of the star species at Chettisham Meadow are Pepper-saxifrage, whose seedheads turn a most glorious shade of pink, and the very delicate Quaking Grass. It was overcast for most of my visit, but once the sun came out the meadow was alive with Meadow Brown butterflies and a range of bees and flies. 

I also found a rather magnificent Variable Longhorn beetle sheltering among the grass in one of my quadrats. This is a saproxylic species and will have developed in the mature hedges that surround the site.