Nature's chequerboard, the slender stemmed and pink-white nodding flowered snake's-head fritillary. This picture shows the first flower on one of my more established patches of bulbs, bought 'in the green' a couple of years ago and planted in the border. This being the more expensive way of buying them, a tried a couple of bags of bulbs in autumn to plant in a small patch of grass I'm attempting to turn into a spring meadow, but I have yet to see any evidence of life there yet...
These beautiful flowers are, sadly, on the decline in our countrysides due to our loss of traditional wildflower meadows and changes in agricultural practices.
As well as being a delicate and pretty addition to the garden, they are also one of the best bulbs for bumblebees. Keep an eye on these plants though, I have often found them under attack from the lily beetle, a non-native insect that eats the leaves and flowers of lilies and fritillaries. I always hesitate to call any species a true pest, but I do resort to hand picking the individuals that do arrive. Reportedly, female beetles find the plants by smell alone, but the beetles that follow are attracted to the smell of already infested plants, so I try to stop them becoming infested in the first place.
References:
Thomas, A. (2017) Gardening for Wildlife, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/wildflowers/snakes-head-fritillary accessed 30/03/2020
https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/discover-wild-plants-nature/plant-fungi-species/fritillary accessed 30/03/2020
https://www.rhs.org.uk/science/help-our-research/lily-beetle accessed 30/03/2020
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