Last Saturday 21st September, ten volunteers spent a couple of hours with Chris Taylor, Horticultural Project Lead for Let’s Grow Preston, raking the recently mown Andy’s Bee Meadow on Broadgate. The weather was lovely and had been all week – really lucky for those of us raking and then moving all the grass away from the meadow!
In the dual Climate and Nature crisis that we face action to address both is crucial. Britain is known to be one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world so anything that can be done to restore nature, even in urban areas, is important. Chris started by giving a short talk on the significance of allowing grasses and wildflowers to grow tall in areas such as this to change it from a sterile lawn to a haven for bees, butterflies, other pollinators and their larvae, beetles, spiders, small mammals, reptiles, etc etc. He also covered different methods of converting areas of grass that had been regularly mown (be it in public-owned land such as in a park or in your garden) into a wildlife-friendly area which was really interesting. Part of the regular maintenance of a nature-friendly meadow is a once-a-year cut followed by raking and removing all the mowings so that the soil nutrient level stays low. This helps native grasses and wildflowers which provide habitat and food for our wildlife to thrive, instead of the area being dominated by a small number of species which provide very little support for biodiversity. The raking and removing was where the volunteer group came in!
To learn more about meadows, see this presentation kindly shared by Chris who led our session. You’ll see how different types of meadow are created and maintained, their importance in providing habitat for wildlife and, perhaps most helpfully, how we can all do something positive to help enable more meadows to be created, even in urban areas.