AS a Gloucestershire country lad, I was taught to rip up ragwort wherever I saw it. Shallow rooted, it came up quite easily. Everyone knew that it poisoned cattle and horses, so should be destroyed whenever and wherever it appeared. The world I then knew was preoccupied with war, with the aftermath of war-my parental generation had been through that business twice-with getting the boys back home and returning to normality. Throughout the nation, farm and garden production was still a prime concern. The niceties and needs the natural countryside were not much recognised: Nature would, after all, take care of herself.
Biodiversity as an objective in its own right had not yet been invented. The term didn't even appear until 1988, when it was coined by Raymond F. Dasmann, professor of ecology at the University of California. He had published a textbook, Environmental Conservation, as long ago as 1959, a farsighted work in the movement that is now the concern of the whole civilised world.
Nasty old ragwort, it has since emerged, is a biodiversity player with an essential role in an extensive entomological structure. According to studies by English Nature and others, the native biennial Senecio jacobaea provides a home and a food source for at least 77 insect species and a significant portion of the diet of 122 others. A further 117, mainly solitary bees, hoverflies, moths and butterflies, including the small copper, drop in for sustenance between their principal feeding and breeding sites. The plant is seventh on the UK Insect Pollinators Initiative list of top nectar producers, drawn up under the AgriLand project.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة August 03, 2022 من Country Life UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة August 03, 2022 من Country Life UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
