Primrose on stilts

There’s a single plant in the middle of a lawn at the back of one of the industrial buildings nearby. It’s standing proud, high above the daisies and dandelions. It’s like a primrose on stilts.

It’s a cowslip, Primula veris. Here it is between the bars of the security fence.

Changes in agriculture in the 1970s and 80s resulted in its decline. Recently, it’s seen a resurgence because it’s used in wildflower seed mixes on motorway banks and civil engineering earthworks. How times have changed.

How many people would recognise one if they saw it?