MANY of our meadows and fields are rich with deep carpets of colourful wild flowers, more so than in many recent years. There may be several reasons for this allowing certain fields to remain in an uncultivated state, or perhaps a more selective use and control of pesticides and weedkillers or possibly the absence of grazing livestock.

This abundance of flowers might even be the result of a combination of all these factors along with some others which are not immediately evident, but whatever the cause, our countryside this year has been enhanced in a most spectacular, delightful and welcoming way.

The sight of fields knee-deep in flowers must have encouraged the presence of other types of wild life - ground-nesting birds, small mammals, butterflies and insects galore, grasshoppers in particular, will have been taking advantage of this abundance of good things.

Some will have set up home deep within the meadows - field mice, voles, rabbits and even rats might be among them, not to mention stoats and weasels or even foxes who may find easy pickings among the variety of youngsters born in those meadows. Humans enjoying the spectacle of wild colour may not be aware of the life-and-death cycle of nature which exists beneath the canopy of flower-heads but we must remember that our landscape is not all sweetness and colour; wild life, in all its splendour and its undoubted cruelty, must continue without our interference.

Of all the flowers I've noticed in the fields this year, two species have been extremely prominent - the red poppy and the feverfew.

Not surprisingly, the red poppy is also known as the field poppy or the corn poppy or sometimes the corn rose. It has dozens of other names, ranging from thunder flower to red huntsman. The field poppy is one of several varieties found in the wild - there is the pale poppy, which is also coloured red and which favours barley fields, there is the opium poppy, a beautiful purple flower which was once cultivated but which now flourishes in the wild, and there are two yellow varieties, the Welsh poppy and the horned poppy. There is also the greater celandine which is a variety of poppy and not related to the lesser celandine; its flowers are also yellow.

The field poppy, however, is perhaps the best known due to its propensity for growing in corn fields or along our roadside verges. If left unchecked, it can quickly dominate a cornfield with its bright red flowers and although each bloom sheds its petals within a day, that same plant can produce up to 400 flowers throughout the summer. It is not surprising, therefore, to find cornfields rich with poppies throughout the summer until harvest time, although in recent years many cereal growers have made use of weedkillers in an attempt to control this rampant flower.

The field poppy is also associated with Ceres, the Roman goddess of the harvest, and she is often depicted wearing a garland of these flowers. It is also believed they grew on the battle fields in Flanders during the First World War, hence their symbolic use on Remembrance Day. Another theory about their use as a flower of remembrance is the poppy's association with sleep - in this case, eternal sleep.

For centuries, of course, poppies in general, and the opium poppy in particular, have been associated with sleep; in the case of the opium poppy, the plant is rich with narcotics - opium and codeine are abstracted from it - and so its Latin name is papaver somniferum, in honour of Somnus, the god of sleep. In times past, parts of the field poppy were also used to encourage slumber - a syrup was made from the leaves and administered to children to make them sleep at night. Other remedies included cures for various aches and pains, with a brew called poppy tea being especially good for easing rheumatism.

Feverfew, so plentiful this year, is a member of the daisy family and its small multi-headed white flowers with their yellow centres do look like daisies. This is a tall plant, however, growing up to 2ft (60cm) high with feathery leaves on several forked stems. It was once grown commercially because it produces drugs which cure headaches and ease feminine complaints; even now, it is said that a leaf or two of feverfew, which has a distinctive strong smell, can be eaten raw in a sandwich as a cure for migraine and headaches. However, this is not recommended - chemicals in the leaves can produce blisters in the mouth. I believe that the some health food shops sell products containing feverfew and other herbs which can be used to ease headaches and migraine, in addition to being used as pain relievers for insect bites as well as for a variety of feminine complaints.

There is another flower which is very similar to feverfew. It also grows in cornfields - this is sometimes called wild chamomile, scented mayweed or corn feverfew and is a strongly scented plant regarded as a nuisance by farmers.

Mole combs

This morning's walk was enlivened by the appearance of a mole on the footpath directly ahead of me. It was struggling to dig into the stone-covered surface and so I picked it up and removed it to a patch of softer ground where it promptly began to furiously excavate a passage into the ground. Had I left it alone, I think it would have tumbled on to the road surface, only inches away, to be killed by a passing car - it was rush hour in our village at the time!

This delightful creature seemed slightly smaller than others I have found in similar circumstances and I wondered if it was a youngster who was making its first excursion away from the nest. Young moles are born from April to early June and spend about a month in the family home before exercising their independence. It might therefore have been a youngster embarking on its adult life, perhaps one born later than normal, or it could have been an adult seeking nesting materials or even food. They do come to the surface for this reason, their search for food on the ground resulting from very dry conditions beneath.

The thing that most impressed me was the beautiful smooth texture of the mole's velvet-like fur. It was delightful to touch - in fact, the fur of a mole is waterproof but the amazing thing was just how clean it was. Considering this creature lives underground for most of its life, tunnelling and pushing its way through the soil, one would expect all moles to be filthy and covered in mud and earth. But on every occasion I have found one on the surface, it has been scrupulously clean - I believe this is achieved by pushing its way through roots and rocks in the ground. These act as combs to maintain the fur in such a splendid condition.

But while moles might be delightful creatures to have in the wide open countryside, they are far from welcome on our lawns, bowling greens, cricket pitches and golf courses. All manner of unlikely schemes have been propounded in an effort to dissuade moles from tunnelling beneath such places to produce their familiar mounds of earth, and so far as I know, there is no definitive answer.

I was recently given one such remedy - "What you need," said my adviser, "is a microphone which you place deep inside the tunnel, and then you play Des O'Connor records. That'll soon shift 'em!"

Snakes and adders

I have received reports of an increased number of adders in the countryside, apparently arising from footpath closures which have resulted from restrictions on access owing to foot-and-mouth disease. Adders which would normally keep away from areas popularly used by ramblers, hikers and those enjoying picnics, have recently returned to such places, now regarding them as their own territory.

The adder is our only poisonous snake and although it does not readily bite humans, it might retaliate if frightened or disturbed. Exposed parts such as toes and fingers (especially of children) might be vulnerable.

The lesson, therefore, is not to nudge a sleeping adder with one's foot and never try to lift one from the ground. The adder grows to some 2ft 6in (76cm) long and is easily identified by the black zigzag pattern along its spine. Its main colour can vary from brown to grey, although there are completely black specimens - but the advice is simple. Leave them alone and if you do get bitten, seek medical help