UPDATE 26 April 2020

We Have a Winner !

We are delighted to announce that the winners of the 2020 Golden Dandelion are Justine Lara Bentley and her daughter Sienna (aged 4). Congratulations to them and very many thanks to all who sent us some wonderful dandelion photos (and a video), especially those who went to the trouble of showing the metre tape-measure, which makes it so much easier to try and judge.

By our count there were well over 200 dandelion flowers in Justine Lara Bentley’s photo. This goes to show what a fantastic nectar and pollen resource dandelions can be for insects and other wildlife. Thank you to all who are trying to encourage them and put an end to to chemical warfare against nature in our gardens and hedgerows.

Here are selections from some of the other great dandelion patches that you shared:

(For a higher definition of this montage by Amazon Rose please click here)

So did was Justine’s the very best (densest 1m2) patch of Dandelions in the UK? Probably not but we are not trying to be utterly scientific! Here are a couple that ‘got away’ because people just sent the snaps without the tape measure – clearly there are some truly amazing spreads of dandelions out there yet to be entered.

Above: from Amanda Barfield in Suffolk

Above: from Skye Muir Robinson

As well as dandelions in gardens and on roadside verges we had some lovely images of dandelions in fields and a couple of very interesting ones from allotments or garden vegetable plots. Of course dandelions are good eating for tortoises, guinea pigs and humans!

Above: from the tortoise garden of Marie Wilde Stubbins

And finally, this from @TimBirchWild in Derbyshire’s Peak District, with his dandelions grown in his vegetable garden – find his video on twitter

Thanks again to all who took part and so helped raise awareness of the need to conserve and cherish our Dandelions !

Dandelions are great wildlife flowers but people don’t realise it! Too many see them as weeds so they are being killed off with ‘weedkillers’ or being mowed down before they can finish flowering.

So help our quest to find Britain’s best dandelion patch. Enter our competition and celebrate and raise awareness of these wonderful flowers and help the millions of insects which depend upon them.

photo courtesy of Crewe Citizen on twitter

Enter and share our Golden Dandelion Competition to help us show gardeners, councils and landowners how valuable they are for bees and other wildlife. We think Dandelions should be encouraged to bloom in every garden, green open space and road verge, rather than being killed off with sprays.

(Visit About Dandelions to find out more about the dozens of moths, bees, birds and other creatures which benefit from us allowing dandelions to thrive).

Nora and Lyra Cumming – delighted to hear they were winners of the 2019 Competition

Will we find a patch to match this in 2020?

How to enter: go into your garden (or somewhere near you on your daily exercise walk), take a photo of the densest patch of dandelions you can find and post it at our Facebook page. (If not on Facebook email it to us and we’ll post it).

To make the photos comparable, we’re looking for a patch about 1 metre square – that’s 100 cms x 100 cms square (20″ x 20″). Be sure to take it from about head-height looking straight down. This year, please include a 1m long ruler or tape measure for scale, as that makes it much easier for us to make sure we are fair in judging! Thank you.

Take your photo with the measure along one side of the square you want us to count dandelions in. This example has seven dandelion blooms in it. Can you do better than this ?

Closing date: Thursday 23rd April at 7pm.
Winner will be announced: Sunday 26th April.
The Golden Dandelion Trophy will be posted to the winning family/ entrant
Free to enter

Notes:

Only dandelions in flower count
Tip: dandelions close up if it’s cold and cloudy or getting dark and they turn to follow the sun – a sunny day is best
Tip: set you camera to “square” photos if it gives the option
Tip: to capture a photo of an insect visiting a Dandelion, pick a sunny day, and lie down near your Dandelion and wait … a warm still day is best

This year’s Golden Dandelion Trophy made by a Fairyland Trust volunteer – if your dandelion patch wins, because of covid we will put your name on it and post it to you. We hope that next year there will be another Fairy Fair and we can present the 2021 winners with their trophy there.

“A fantastic scheme. Good luck with it – these sorts of projects make a difference”.

Professor Jane Memmot of Bristol University, expert on pollinators and President of the British Ecological Society.

Read about Jane’s views on Dandelions in this article from The Guardian:

plus

Have you seen our video LAWNAGGEDON, about a man who dreams of the ‘perfect lawn’ with no dandelions before he wakes up to how good they are for bees?

Why we’re doing it – Dandelions are fantastic for nectar to feed bees, butterflies and loads of other insects (photo George Pilkington)

The Golden Dandelion Competition is Britain’s only dandelion competition and began in 2019. Read more at our Dandelions Page

Some of the 2019 entries

Good luck to everyone – please share this page or our posts on Facebook, Insta’ or Twitter!

https://www.fairylandtrust.org/golden-dandelion-competition-2020/

Golden Dandelion Competition 2020

We Have a Winner !

Here are selections from some of the other great dandelion patches that you shared:

Thanks again to all who took part and so helped raise awareness of the need to conserve and cherish our Dandelions !

Dandelions are great wildlife flowers but people don’t realise it! Too many see them as weeds so they are being killed off with ‘weedkillers’ or being mowed down before they can finish flowering.

So help our quest to find Britain’s best dandelion patch. Enter our competition and celebrate and raise awareness of these wonderful flowers and help the millions of insects which depend upon them.

Enter and share our Golden Dandelion Competition to help us show gardeners, councils and landowners how valuable they are for bees and other wildlife. We think Dandelions should be encouraged to bloom in every garden, green open space and road verge, rather than being killed off with sprays.

(Visit About Dandelions to find out more about the dozens of moths, bees, birds and other creatures which benefit from us allowing dandelions to thrive).

How to enter: go into your garden (or somewhere near you on your daily exercise walk), take a photo of the densest patch of dandelions you can find and post it at our Facebook page. (If not on Facebook email it to us and we’ll post it).

Closing date: Thursday 23rd April at 7pm.

Winner will be announced: Sunday 26th April.

The Golden Dandelion Trophy will be posted to the winning family/ entrant

Free to enter

Notes:

Only dandelions in flower count

Tip: dandelions close up if it’s cold and cloudy or getting dark and they turn to follow the sun – a sunny day is best

Tip: set you camera to “square” photos if it gives the option

Tip: to capture a photo of an insect visiting a Dandelion, pick a sunny day, and lie down near your Dandelion and wait … a warm still day is best

“A fantastic scheme. Good luck with it – these sorts of projects make a difference”.

Professor Jane Memmot of Bristol University, expert on pollinators and President of the British Ecological Society.

Have you seen our video LAWNAGGEDON, about a man who dreams of the ‘perfect lawn’ with no dandelions before he wakes up to how good they are for bees?

The Golden Dandelion Competition is Britain’s only dandelion competition and began in 2019. Read more at our Dandelions Page