Country diary: the killer role of pollen in the hawkweed’s life cycle

Ketton Quarry, Rutland: Pliny the Elder believed that hawks sprinkled sap from hawkweeds into their eyes. But the plant's true hawkish behaviour was only recently discovered

Old limestone quarries are fantastic places for nature, and here at Ketton the Wildlife Trust reserve fills the space left by stone extracted in the 1930s. Next door there is light industry, on what would have been the quarry floor, and then beyond that the vast modern excavations and tall cement works that dominate the landscape.

Related: Berries festoon the quarry reserve