Tucked away on a country lane, a small field bursts with yellow and pink flowers. Quail and whitethroats call from the thick hedges and the plants, including common centaury, yellow rattle and marsh and common spotted orchids, bounce with hoverflies and butterflies.

More than 150 plant species have been recorded on Sayer’s Old Meadow, in north Norfolk, England, which is remarkable when there was just one – oilseed rape – growing there 21 years ago.

This transformation has happened without sowing any commercial wildflower mixes or making any other expensive interventions such as deep ploughing or top-soil removal, often undertaken when arable land is “restored” to nature-rich meadow. Instead, the four-acre field was simply cut for hay once every summer, with an abundance of wildflowers naturally – and rather mysteriously – finding their way into the field.