Meanwhile, the cattle herd is helping native tree species to regenerate Silver Cove by trampling the bracken and disturbing the ground. The disturbance is vital for creating new open glades and microclimates that enable native spring flowers like violets, wood anemones and primroses to flourish on land that was once dense forestry plantation, or closely grazed sheep pasture.
These humble spring flowers aren’t particularly showy, or exotic, or even particularly rare, but their presence reveals a lot more than just the coming of spring. All these flowers are among a list of indicator species that reveal the underlying habitat to be ancient semi-natural woodland, which is coming under increasing threat across England.