LADY'S SMOCK

Lady's Smock or Cuckoo flower is present in drifts in the fields behind the Mundy Playing Field, low down where the ground is damper..

You can also find it in damp ditches like the one alongside the football pitch, and near post 10 in Filnore Woods.  There are usually a lot in the skateboard field but it has just been mown.

The flowers are white or pale pink and carried in bunches at the top of the stem.  Like Jack-by-the-Hedge , it is a foodplant for Orange Tip caterpillars.

It is also sometimes called Milkmaids.

The name Cuckoo Flower was given because it used to announce the arrival of Cuckoos from Africa but they seem to be much rarer now.

It's worth a stroll to the further field, the one with the seat under a red horse chestnut tree, to see these graceful flowers.