Williamson's Weekly Nature Notes

GRANDMOTHER'S nightcaps were thick on the ground again this spring. These wild flowers are a sure indicator of ancient woodlands so you'll find them in the old hazel and chestnut coppice woods. But only if these centuries-old sylvicultural systems are properly managed by being cut regularly. Otherwise granny's nightcap will vanish.

The picture here shows wood anemones (to give them their more usual name) in the coppice wood a few yards from my back door. They appear as thick as stars in the Milky Way though at night they close up.

I could still see them this spring in the moonlight however. Then they open soon after the sun rises. They shake in the lightest breeze, trembling as though the whole ground is moving.

I suppose that is why they are often called wind flowers. Children have sometimes been confused by the wood anemone name '“ difficult to get right at the best of times unless you remember to say "any money" '“ and have corrupted the name into "wooden enemies".

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette May 6