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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Travel
Rhiannon Batten

Follow the buzz: the best UK wildflower spectacles this summer

Cowslips and early-purple orchids flowering at the Plantlife nature reserve at Deep Dale in Derbyshire’s Peak District.
Cowslips and early-purple orchids flowering at the Plantlife nature reserve at Deep Dale in Derbyshire’s Peak District. Photograph: Roger Butterfield

Deep Dale, Peak District, Derbyshire

One of 23 nature reserves across the UK owned by conservation charity Plantlife that sparkle with wildflowers each summer (use the website’s map to find your nearest), this upland grassland in the Peak District near Buxton, is perennially popular among botanists. The range of species you might spot here includes drifts of yellow mountain pansies, early purple orchids, pink musk-mallow and lilac-tinted heath speedwell. Plantlife is also known for campaigns such as No Mow May and National Meadows Day (2 July), when it organises wildlife ID courses, scything competitions and art activities at many of its sites.
Free access (a free walking guide can be downloaded from the website) but note that a local farmer grazes cattle on the reserve from July to November, plantlife.org.uk

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