Where have all the cowslips gone?

In Sons and Lovers , one spring day Paul, Miriam and Clara go for a walk from Haggs Farm up the hill to High Park Wood:

They found at the top of the hill a hidden wild field, two sides of which were backed by the wood, the other sides by high loose hedges ... The field itself was coarse, and crowded with tall big cowslips that had never been cut ... It was like a roadstead crowded with tall fairy shipping.

Today it is easy to follow the track uphill from the Mill, but finding the 'wild field' is more difficult. The wood must have changed considerably in the past century, although the bluebells which Lawrence saw 'flowed over into the field' are still there. Yet I failed to find a single cowslip.

In the novel these flowers form the basis of a debate among the walkers about the morality of picking wild flowers. Clara argues against, while Paul and Miriam, in different ways, feel it doesn't matter. Illogically, I wondered if there was a connection between the fictional harvesting of the flowers and their disappearance today. Later I found a couple of clumps (pictured above) by the roadside on the track to Annesley, but in general they have become quite rare in this district.