It’s reassuring to know that some things carry on regardless of the great upheavals in the world of human beings and one of them is the growth of wild plants which don’t rely on us for sustenance. But they are effected, to an extent, by what we do.

I mentioned, a while back, that we have let our fields struggle on without the aid of artificial fertilisers for several years. And that the resulting drop in fertility, keeping the grasses in check, has allowed a lot of wild flowers to flourish. I know that this is a luxury which few farmers can afford but I would like to think that, in every few square miles of the Irish countryside, we can let a couple of acres go fallow and allow the endemic flora to flourish.

The results here at Carrigeen Hill are remarkable. Last year, we saw increased diversity but now we are astonished at what is coming up. There are wild orchids, forget-me-nots, bird’s foot trefoil, meadowsweet, lady’s smock, hawkbit, yellow flags, rushes, water mint, ribwort, scabious, campion, violets, pimpernel, speedwell, fig wort, honeysuckle and vetch. The seeds were there but they were choked out by the vigour of the grasses. We now have the kind of wild flower meadows that people are deliberately planting – and just by taking a crop of hay every year and not adding any fertiliser. I only wish that we had wild poppies but they go with arable land (or the margins of new motorways where I also notice a lot of yellow rattle).

And with the added diversity of wild plants comes more and more butterflies, especially orange tips and fritillaries. The only worrying note has been the quietness of the bees. They are very few and far between this year. A world without bees is not possible, which is a chilling thought. Okay, I’ll spell it out. We need bees to pollinate all sorts of crops that are essential for human survival.

Even the Elizabethan writer John Evelyn in his “Advice to the Gardiner“,  just reissued by the Oxford University Press, offers guidelines for keeping down pests while preserving bees. It’s a shame that the pesticide indsutry doesn’t display such sensitivity to how the world works. Because, as I say, a world without bees, is unthinkable. If bees were to die out, global warming would be the least of our problems. We would die out too.

I have taken to noticing what wild plants do well each year. Last year, when we had a lousy summer, the spring was marked by an abundance of primroses and cowslips. This year, what has struck me most, is the buttercup crop. There are fields around here, especially between Conna and Midleton, which are veritable carpets of yellow. I just hope that it means a good summer. And I should add that creeping buttercup is one of the most annoying weeds to afflict our vegetable plot. But it’s a civilised weed (unlike scutch) which is easily de-fused.

The hawthorn is in full bloom at the moment, diffusing its lovely scent and promising sustenance for the birds during the winter. But I always think that the loveliest hawthorn the relatively unusual pink hybrid. I just hope that there are enough bees to ensure that it produces berries for the colder months.