Therfield Heath

Therfield Heath is a local nature reserve and SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) on the chalk hills south of Royston. The Pulsatilla grow on Castle Hill which juts out westwards from the escarpment, along the edge of the golf course. Most of the plants are on a south-facing slope in full sun.

The display was indeed magnificent, perhaps slightly past its best. There were plenty of seedheads among the blooms but still many plants with clusters of flowers in good condition. This year there must have been many thousands of flowers. Here, the plants are growing in maybe an inch of turf over chalk. They are tiny compared to the plants we grow in gardens but still beautiful. You do not need to travel to Europe or further afield to see wonderful displays of wildflowers; the British landscape is full of such treasures if you seek them out.

There is little variation between the plants in this population – subtle differences in the shade of purple is about it. I have never found white plants here, though I have seen them in the Cotswolds. However, I did find one plant which was significantly larger and more vigorous. I don’t know whether this is because it was growing in a deeper and perhaps more fertile pocket of soil, or whether it had inherited some genes from a garden form; I rather suspect the latter.