I always enjoyed seeing these beautiful burgundy red, chequered flowers when I was young in my mother's garden. They felt like a sign that spring was in full swing and summer was just around the corner.
This year I decided that I wanted some snake's head fritillaries for the garden and I also was determined to learn more about them.
In my reading I discovered that there is a place called Fox Fritillary Meadow filled with wild fritillaries (managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust) and it's about an hours drive from me!
I was very curious and had to see this botanical spectacle for myself but the catch was that this site is closed to the public for all but two days of the year when they are all in bloom.
Today was one of their open days so with my partner we drove down to the site in Suffolk.
We were not disappointed! The flowering was at it's height and there were thousands of beautiful blooms everywhere including quite a few lovely white flowers.
There is a bit of debate whether snake's head fritillaries are a native British plant or not but it seem most likely that it was introduced here around 500 years ago and has since become naturalized. It was once a common plant not only seen in river side meadows but available in many places like the flower markets of London which were overflowing with these brilliant blooms. They will only happily grow on damp meadows that remain wet throught the winter. Over the years these areas were agriculturally 'improved' and now they are a vulnerable species here and there are very few sites where they naturally occur.
We spent a happy afternoon wandering amongst the plants, admiring them and watching the pollinating insects come and go. I hope that in a hundred years time from now the display here will look as beautiful (or better!) as it did today! :-)
