Shifting ground has suited the colonies

Merry's Meadows, Leicestershire Ancient disturbance created ridges and troughs, letting a wide range of plants colonise the meadow grassland

There is no better way to mark the land's springtime rejuvenation than a sunny morning whiled away botanising in a floristically diverse meadow.

Merry's Meadows - there are three fairly large fields - huddle together surrounded by a sea of bright yellow oilseed rape. The shallow corrugation of ridges and furrows indicate that a good proportion of the nature reserve was ploughed and cropped in mediaeval times.