Mike Dilger's Wildlife Watching

In his series of great places to watch wildlife in the UK, the star of BBC One’s The One Show this month heads uphill where the meadow wildflowers are at their best right now and lapwings are taking flight.

Gloriously flower-rich and sadly in many ways a habitat of a bygone era, Britain’s hay meadows tend to be divided, by those in the know, into two categories. With altitude the key factor, the upland hay meadows – unlike their lowland counterparts – are generally found in a broad swathe above 200m, yet crucially below an altitude of about 400m, where acid grassland or moorland then take over as the dominant vegetative force.

Invariably found on either the valley bottoms or the gentle lower slopes of our upland valleys, these floristically rich meadows tend to have the appearance of small fields, frequently enclosed by stone walls, with many additionally containing their own small, stone barn.