Come and be part of a global voice for wild plants and fungi
Experience the wonders of nature and its rich biodiversity through our events and activities
Help us expand our nature reserve in Dorset. Donate to help us create more space for nature.
Our corporate partners benefit from 35 years of experience in nature restoration so they can achieve real impact.
Become a Plantlife member today and together we will rebuild a world rich in plants and fungi
Wildflower meadows are often a defining feature of the summer, but when managed properly they can also be a vital habitat for wildlife and nature recovery.
Take a look through our guidance on managing meadows, the equipment needed, which seeds to choose and much much more.
Many flower-filled meadows are rich with an abundance of wild plants and fungi, but sadly grasslands are among the most threatened habitats in Britain.
Approximately 97% of the UK’s species-rich grassland has been lost since the 1930s. There are many reasons for their decline including conversion into crops and more intensive management, tree planting, development and more.
We are working with farmers, landowners and community groups to restore our grasslands and take care of meadows for the future.
Creating a meadow, but not sure what machinery is best – we have the answers for you, no matter the size of your meadow.
No matter the size of your meadow – whether it’s a small lawn, a community field or acres of farmland – you will need to think about equipment. All types of machinery have their advantages and disadvantages, but which combinations you use largely depends on the equipment you already have and the size of your meadow.
Today, a growing number of lawns and smaller green spaces are being turned into meadows, without the aid of big machinery and livestock.
Mowing and then removing the clippings, mimics the hay cutting and grazing cycles used on larger sites. Many spaces – including lawns, school grounds, road verges, graveyards and fields under a hectare – are being managed in this way. Follow this wheel below for a year in the life of small meadow management:
What is it used for?
Cutting and removing grass at the end of the summer to mimic a hay cut.
How to use it
Best to start with the cutting blades set as high as possible and cut several times, lowering the cutting height each time.
Top tip
Best if the grass box is not attached for the 1st couple of cuts and raked by hand after each cut.
Creating bare ground (before sowing the seed).
Rake off all the dead grass and thatch after scarifying.
Suited to smaller sites such as gardens, verges and green spaces. Available through most plant and machinery hire shops.
Annual cut of small meadows in gardens or green spaces or for creating bare ground.
Strim area as short as possible and rake off all the cuttings.
Can be used to create bare ground if using strimmer with a cord.
Creating bare ground and managing small meadows .
A metal rake can be used to remove clippings after the grass has been cut. A soil rake is good for removing building up of mossy thatch at the bass.
Remove all the raked material before it rots down and the nutrients enrich the soil.
Cutting large meadows that are too small for farm machinery or have limited access.
These are also useful where steep slopes preclude any ride-on machinery.
Available through most plant and machinery hire shops.
This machinery is designed to fit on the back of a tractor and for field-scale meadow management for sites bigger than one hectare. As a farmer or landowner, it is likely that you will have this equipment readily available, but this guidance will help with the best ways of utilising it for meadow creation. If not, nearby farmers or land managers might be able to help you out with borrowing equipment.
Useful for pulling out thatch, particularly in ungrazed meadows. Ideally before creating bare ground for sowing wildflowers in a field with existing grass – or if problem plants exist just use this.
They pull out the thatch of dead grass and moss that can build up in meadows, to expose the bare ground.
They work well in sites which have previously had problem plants – because they only scratch the surface and are less likely to awaken seeds from the past.
Creating a lot of bare ground, quickly.
Care must be taken not to power the harrow too deep – aim for a setting of no more than 1” deep, not a standard agricultural operation.
They must only be used in meadows already with very short grass and lacking problem plants present recently or seed bank.
These tools are best used for creating bare ground.
They work best on slightly soft ground with very short grass.
They are less effective than power or tine harrows, so the meadow will need to be chain-harrowed several times.
Cutting meadows, as part of the hay making process.
It is used for spreading grass around the meadow.
The grass is spread around the meadow, to aid drying during hay making.
Can be used for spreading green hay out if this is used as a seed source for meadow creation.
Baling the hay in traditional hay meadow management.
Collects previously cut, turned, dried long grass/hay, and shapes it into compact large rounds or small squares.
Round balers need the bales to be moved by a tractor, whereas small square bales can be easily moved by hand.
These tools are used for cutting and collecting at the same time.
Cutting and removing the annual grass growth in a meadow where it’s not possible to make hay.
They are increasingly being used to manage road verges and smaller meadows, where it is not practical to make hay or graze livestock.
Straw choppers are used for spreading green hay bales out.
A much spreader is used for spreading green hay.
To use a much spreader, drive slowly across the field.
Green hay should be spread as quickly as possible, to avoid over heating the green hay.
Wildflower meadows can sometimes take a while to really bloom, but with careful management, it’s definitely worth the wait.
Read on to learn how to manage a meadow and about different meadow types.
So, you’ve started growing wildflowers on your land or community meadow – but how do you help this flower-filled show return every year?
Wildflower meadows can take a while to really bloom, but following these simple steps will ensure your meadow thrives with beautiful and diverse plants again and again. The essentials for every meadow are sun, soil, some rain and management – and while the equipment can vary, the processes are similar regardless of the size of your meadow.
There are 5 main things to think about:
A traditional meadow is a field or grassy area where the grasses and wildflowers are allowed to grow unhindered until they are cut, usually for hay, in the late summer.
A meadow or pasture? Just as the word woodland is used to describe many types of wood, we now often use the word meadow to describe many different types of flower-rich grassy places. This includes pastures, which are maintained by grazing. The grass is kept in balance by careful grazing with a small number of animals which are moved around throughout the year. This extensive grazing allows pastures and grasslands to support abundant flowers without a hay cut.
Types of pastures:
When we imagine a flower-rich hay meadow we are usually thinking about a lowland neutral meadow. Neutral meadows, with a mixture of grasses and flowers reaching knee to waist-high in summer, are rooted in soil that’s neither too acidic nor too alkaline.
Plants to spot – Cowslip, Oxeye Daisy, Buttercup, Scabious, Betony, Clover, Vetch, Knapweed and Lady’s Bedstraw.
These meadows can support magnificent displays of orchids, especially Green-winged Orchid and Common Spotted-orchid. Yellow Rattle and eyebrights also play a crucial role by helping to keep the grass down. Thanks to these species and the infertile soil, the delicate grasses (like Sweet Vernal Grass, Quaking Grass and Crested Dog’s-tail) allow plenty of room for wildflowers to grow.
Go and explore lowland wet and dry meadow at Three Hagges Woodmeadow Nature Reserve.
On wetter soils where rivers break their banks in winter, floodplain meadows develop where the soil is deeper and more fertile. This habitat supports quite tall and lush vegetation.
Plants to spot – Cuckooflower, Ragged Robin, Meadowsweet, Great Burnet, Snake’s-head Fritillary and Meadow Foxtail.
In slightly wetter spots, Amphibious Bistort and Marsh Marigold can thrive and in ancient floodplain meadows with less fertile soils delicate pepper saxifrage can be supported.
Go and explore floodplain meadow at Lugg Meadow Nature Reserve in Herefordshire or Long Herdon and Grange Meadows in Buckinghamshire.
In areas of northern Britain, upland hay meadows thrive with very distinctive flora, providing a home for hundreds of plants species, that not only help wildflowers, but also local wildlife. At peak times, these traditional meadows are full of life – from bees and butterflies to birds and small mammals.
Although not as species-rich as their lowland counterparts, they can be truly spectacular.
Plants to spot – Wood Crane’s-bill, Melancholy Thistle, Bistort, Great Burnet, Buttercup, Red Clover, Yellow Rattle and Eyebright.
The colourful tapestry of hay meadows is often softened by the white frothy flowers of Pignut and rarely, species of Lady’s Mantle nestle among the grasses.
Go and explore neutral hay meadow at Caeau Tan y Bwlch in Gwynedd orhay meadow at Joan’s Hill Farm Nature Reserve in Herefordshire.
Also known as culm grassland in south-west England and Rhôs pasture in Wales, Purple Moor-grass Rush pasture is found on poorer soils in western areas.
Plants to spot – Purple Moor-grass, Rush, Ragged-Robin, Devil’s-bit Scabious, Whorled Caraway, Lesser Spearwort, Sneezewort and Marsh Orchid.
This is a particularly good habitat for other wildlife including reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates and breeding wading birds.
Flower-rich pasture meadows were once a common feature of grazing land, but today only a tiny fraction remain. These vibrant and beautiful grasslands were traditionally used for keeping small herds of cows or horses. A lot of pasture across the UK has been agriculturally ‘improved’ by draining, ploughing, fertilising and reseeding. This means many of these sites have lost most of their ecological integrity. Wildflowers often struggle because the nutrient levels are higher, and the underground fungal networks and seed banks will largely be absent due to ploughing and chemical treatment. Flower-rich pasture meadows can be managed with livestock or cutting.
Go and explore neutral pasture at Cae Blaen-dyffryn Nature Reserve in Carmarthenshire or Culm grassland at Greena Moor in Cornwall.
Some of the most spectacular wildflower habitats can be found on well drained, alkaline soil that develops on top of chalk and limestone rocks. This grassland can support an astonishing 50 species in a single square metre.
Plants to spot – Wild Thyme, Lady’s Bedstraw, Salad Burnet, Common Rockrose, Marjoram, Harebell and Small Scabious.
But in fact, it’s the rare and unusual flowers that make these meadows so exciting including Orchid, Gentian, Milkwort, Vetch and Pasqueflower.
Go and explore limestone pasture at Winskill Stones Nature Reserve in north Yorkshire or chalk grassland at Ranscombe Farm in Kent.
One of our most widespread, but perhaps unappreciated grasslands is acid grassland. They can be found on acid soils of hills, mountains and fells, as well as overlying acidic lowland rocks such as sandstone and shale.
Plants to spot – Tormentil, Heath Bedstraw, Mouse-eared Hawkweed, Heath Milkwort and Sheep’s Sorrel.
Grasses such as Bent, Fescue, Early Hair-grass, Heath-grass, Sweet Vernal Grass, Mat-grass and Wavy Hair-grass.
Occasionally other wildflowers like Heath Spotted-orchid, Betony and Autumn Hawkbit can be seen in abundance, as well as patches of Harebell.
Timings can vary, but hay meadows need cutting when the grass is high and ripe. To help local insects, it is good to leave an unmown strip around the edge of your meadow as a forage and refuge resource for birds and invertebrates. For smaller grassy areas the hay meadow can be cut with a mower and for larger community meadows or pony paddocks, a tractor with a drum or disc mower can be used.
When possible, bringing animals in to graze the new grass a few weeks after cutting can really help wildflowers. Normally the livestock need to be removed by the end of February to allow flowers like cuckooflower and cowslip to bloom, and the seedlings of Yellow Rattle to get going. The meadow should then be left alone throughout spring and summer or until most of the plants have flowered and set seed.
Your go-to guide for transforming places into flower-rich meadows
It’s been 25 years since a local campaign helped save Skylark Meadows, we look back at this positive story of people protecting nature.
This year marks 25 years since the stunning Skylark Meadows in Somerset first became a protected Plantlife nature reserve – thanks to the local community who rallied to save it.
Back in 1997, news broke that the farmer who had owned and managed the land as a traditional hay meadow was looking to retire and sell the 18-acre patch that had become a haven, not only for plant and animal wildlife, but for the local residents as well. With the future of the meadows in jeopardy, the community organised an appeal to raise the funds needed to buy it.
Donald Rayner from Bawdrip, one of the residents instrumental to saving the site, remembered the day he first realised how special the meadows were: “My friends had started without me, so I set off after them across what we now call Skylark Meadows. They were ahead, and I was alone in the fields. I heard skylarks where they simply shouldn’t be. I knew I’d come across something special.”
With a race against time on their hands, the community formed the Skylark Meadows Rescue Group. Local resident Pam Earnshaw was instrumental in heading up the campaign, hosting group meetings and working hard to raise the funds needed to secure its future.
When the appeal first launched, Bob Cornes from English Nature visited the site and was quoted as saying: “It was immediately obvious to me that this was a 50-species meadow. That puts it in the top echelon of conservation sites.”
The group had worked hard and raised a good sum, but they were still short. In 1999, they reached out to us at Plantlife and we stepped in to cover the additional costs and purchase Skylark Meadows. It has been officially protected as a nature reserve ever since.
Speaking of the success of the campaign, Donald said: “It provides a positive example of community achievement here and everywhere.”
The site is home to a range of plants, grasses and wildflowers. These include Yellow Rattle Rhinanthus minor, Common Knapweed Centaurea nigra, Oxeye Daisy Leucanthemum vulgare, Pepper Saxifrage Silaum silaus and the hay meadow speciality Corky-fruited Water-dropwort Oenanthe pimpinelloides.
As well as the rich variety of plants, the meadows provide a habitat for animal wildlife. The skylarks from which the meadows get their name, can still be seen and heard overhead. Old hedgerows provide a safe haven for birds like whitethroats and linnets as well as mammals including badgers and foxes. Barn owls nest in the owl boxes, brown hares and roe deer have both also been spotted in the meadows.
Finally, the variety in beautiful wildflowers every year attracts an array of pollinators, in particular butterflies.
The meadows looking beautiful with a sea of yellow wildflowers
A butterfly resting on a wildflower at Skylark Meadows
One of the many visitors to Skylark Meadows
It is particularly popular with butterflies in the summer
Many of the locals who were involved in the original campaign have maintained strong connections to the site, including Donald.
“I help with the monitoring of the owl boxes with the HOT group [Hawk and Owl Trust], and try to keep the water trough clean when not in use etc,” he said.
Since taking ownership of the site, we have expanded the original two meadows by purchasing a third field to add to the nature reserve. We have been continuing to manage the whole site using traditional hay meadow methods.
Donald said: “It has increased from 18 acres to 24 acres by allowing the field to west to be obtained then managed in the same traditional hay meadow routine i.e. cut only [once a year] then grazed September to winter then left to regrow without any form of ‘artificial’ or natural growth aids. Thus protecting the needs of the meadow flora.”
Donald Rayner
The nature reserve now encompasses the original two unimproved grassland meadows that we purchased back in 1999, as well as a former silage field which we added to the reserve in 2003.
The original meadows have never had fertiliser or heavy machinery used on them and have always been maintained using traditional hay meadow methods. We have continued these methods and incorporated them into managing the third newer field as well – though it takes many years to restore meadowland.
We manage the meadows by cutting only once a year and then introducing grazing in the late summer and early autumn.
Old hedgerows of Hawthorn Crataegus and Blackthorn Prunus spinosa and lovely Crack Willow Salix fragilis trees have been managed with pollarding (cut low on the trunk to harvest regenerating branches and encourage regrowth).
For 25 years, and for the future, the meadows remain protected for the community and nature.
Donald said: “It offers all ages a chance to enjoy bird song, flowers and open land in a large landscape of natural features. Children visit from the school and the footpaths provide an opportunity for all to visit, learn and enjoy from all over the country.”
The purchase of this meadow was made possible with help from Unilever (Timotei), Somerset Wildlife Trust, the Environment Agency, Sedgemoor District Council, Gerber Foods, Wyvern Environmental Trust, the Charles Hayward Trust and the community through the Skylark Meadows Rescue Group.
Visit our beautiful reserve in Somerset for the chance to see Yellow Rattle, Common Knapweed, Oxeye Daisy and Pepper Saxifrage.
Managing or making meadows, whether as part of your lawn or larger sites, can sometimes lead to a prickly problem, with plots of docks or nuisance nettles!
Problems can arise by opening the soil or when the nutrients are very high – but our experts are here to help.
While most plants have some value to wildlife, species such as Common Nettle Urtica dioica, thistles Cirsium sp and docks Rumex sp can spread rapidly in meadows or lawns with sub-optimal management and crowd out wildflowers. Small amounts of these species are natural in any grassland, especially along boundaries or corners, large amounts of them can indicate a problem.
However, large swathes of thistles or nettles will result in less space for a diversity of other flowering plants, which could result in a meadow being less valuable for wildlife. Also be aware that an area that has alot of these problem plants already, is usually best avoided altogether if attempting to make a new meadow area.
Preventing problem plants establishing in large numbers is better than a cure . It is best to:
Broad-leaved Dock Rumex obtusifolius can grow up to 120cm tall and has wide lower leaves that are slightly wavy-edged. The upper leaves on the flowering stem are narrower. The leaves may be slightly red tinged.
Curled Dock Rumex crispus is like Broad-leaved Dock but has narrower leaves tapered into the stem with strongly crisped edges. Docks are an important plant for a range of insects such as capsids, weevils, beetles, spiders and many other insects.
Spear Thistle Cirsium vulgare is a biennial plant, forming a rosette of spiny and sharply toothed leaves in the first year and producing large purple flowering heads in the second year.
Creeping Thistle Cirsium arvense is perennial with wavy-toothed leaves that have slender spines and smaller purple flower heads.
Common Ragwort Jacobaea vulgaris is a biennial member of the Daisy family. Its seed germinates in the autumn producing a rosette of leaves. During the second year, the plant sends up flowering shoots which have multiple yellow flowers.
Common Ragwort is known to support more than 129 other species of invertebrates and has enormous value for wildlife. It acts as a nectar source for pollinators as well as some larvae of flies and beetles which feed on the inside of the flower head. The caterpillars of the cinnabar moth eat Common Ragwort acting as a natural biological control agent. In addition, 14 species of fungi use ragwort as their host.
Common Nettle Urtica dioica is a coarsely hairy plant with stinging hairs that have a histamine-containing juice. Plants are dioecious – male or female. It has far-creeping underground rhizomes which can spread creating large clumps of common nettle.
It is an important plant for a range of insects such as ladybirds, damselflies, capsids, weevils, beetles, and spiders. Young nettles are the food plant of many moth larvae such as the snout, dot, burnished brass and younger mother-of-pearl and butterflies such as the peacock, small tortoiseshell and comma.
Many of them have seeds that are very fertile and spread on the wind, usually dropping far away from the parent plant. A single Common Ragwort plant can produce up to 200,000 seeds, and these can lie dormant in the soil for as long as 20 years. Common Ragwort is also a problem in particular for livestock as the plant contains toxic alkaloids which act as a cumulative poison eventually destroying an animal’s liver.
Some species also have rhizomatous roots that are spreading meaning that they form dense clumps in grassland. Accidently breaking up the roots when removing certain species creates larger clumps as even small bits of root can grow into plants and can remain dormant in the soil for years. For example, Creeping Thistle can create a 20- metre patch in just two years from a small bit of root left in the ground.
Spear Thistle, Creeping Thistle, Broad-leaved Dock, Curled Dock and Common Ragwort are classified under the Weeds Act 1959, under which orders can be made requiring their control to help prevent their spread. So, controlling populations of these two species should be undertaken to manage the extent of clumps as total elimination is unlikely to be achievable or desirable.
All methods of managing problem plants need patience above all else. Most often it can take years before problem plants are brought back under control.
Essentially pulling by hand is going to be the simplest and least invasive way of managing most of them, or simply cutting the heads off the plants before they flower or set seed for others. However, if you have large numbers of plants and are unable to physically remove them, then spot-spraying can be used. We would always recommend consulting an expert for suitable and available herbicides that will affect the specified problem plants and how to apply the chemicals safely. Spraying is usually most effective early in the season (May or June) before the plants’ flowers are developed. When found along the edge of watercourses, there are additional concerns about using herbicides.
It is important to take care when digging to remove some species, as Creeping Thistle for example can spread further if fragments of roots are left in the soil, whereas digging and removing Spear Thistle is not a problem.
In a well-managed sward, Common Ragwort seldom gets the chance to establish. Pulling and digging is often the most effective control method. Hand tools can be used to make the job easier such as a ‘lazy dog tool’ and a ‘rag-fork’. Gloves must be worn! This method should be done early in the summer before the flower heads mature with best results when the soil is wet. This enables the whole plant to be removed as small bits of root left in the soil can grow becoming new plants. Roots are more likely to break in dry ground potentially creating a larger problem with a halo of new plants around the removed parent plant. Cutting can be used as a method, however it is essential to cut before seed heads are mature and this must be followed with another control technique. Cutting may stimulate the growth of side shoots and vigorous growth in the following year.
Common Nettle is usually best managed through cutting by mechanical means such as a tractor-mounted cutter, strimmer or by hand, using a scythe. This method is best used where infestations of Common Nettle are small, bird nesting is not an issue, equipment and labour are available and where total control is neither desirable nor necessary. Repeated cutting combined with close mowing of the area will weaken Common Nettles and allow the grass to successfully compete over a period of years.
There are other species of thistles that are not considered problem plants, such as:
There are other Dock species that are present in grassland and are not considered problem plants in the legislation. These include:
There are other Ragwort species that are present in grassland and are not considered problem plants in the legislation. For example:
Managing or making meadows, whether in a lawn or larger site, can sometimes lead to prickly problem plants like docks or nettles. Follow our expert advice for managing problem plants.
Yellow Rattle, is the single most important plant you need when creating a wildflower meadow. Here’s everything you need to know.
Want to start a community meadow, but not sure where to begin? Read our guide to creating a flower-filled haven for your local community.
Known as nature’s meadow maker, Yellow Rattle, is the single most important plant you need when creating a wildflower meadow.
Here’s everything you need to know.
Yellow rattle, commonly known as the meadow maker, is one of the most important plants you need for a meadow. Without it, vigorous grasses can grow unchecked and smother flowers you want to encourage.
As Yellow Rattle Rhinanthus minor grows in a meadow the grass will become thinner, making room for plants like Oxeye Daisy, Knapweeds and Vetches to appear. And if you’re lucky, maybe even an orchid will pop up.
Then large bees, especially bumblebees, move in and pollinate the flowers of yellow rattle and it’s large seed pods dry and ripen. This leaves the seeds rattling around inside. Farmers used to use the sound of the rattling seeds as their cue to cut the hay – hence the name.
Yellow Rattle is a very useful starting plant when making a wildflower meadow, but it can be a little tricky to establish. Here are some top tips to get you started:
If you have very fertile soil, it might be trickier to grow Yellow Rattle. Poor and infertile soils are best and following the steps above will help reduce the fertility of your soil over time.
Your go-to guide for transforming places into flower-rich meadows.
Late summer (August-September) is the best time to sow Yellow Rattle. It will not grow successfully if sown in the spring. The seeds can be sown no later than November because they need about 4 months below 5C to germinate in the spring.
Yellow Rattle is easy to collect by hand. Simply hold a paper bag under the ripe seed pod and shake it gently with your fingers. Collecting larger quantities can easily be done using a vacuum or leaf blower.
WATCH: Plantlife’s Sarah Shuttleworth collects Yellow Rattle with a vacuum.
There are a number of reasons why Yellow Rattle may disappear from a meadow, including:
For meadows, we recommend 0.5-2.5kg per hectare/10-20g per m2 if you are collecting your own seed.
There are several possible reasons:
Thousands of people across the country have let it grow for #NoMowMay this year.
Our gardens have bloomed with wildflowers and grasses and we’ve seen our green spaces grow beautifully wild – all to give nature the boost it deserves.
Every No Mow May lawn is different and perhaps that’s what makes them so beautiful. But we are all connected by a common goal…to leave space for nature.
Thank you to everyone who has taken part in No Mow May, we hope you’ve enjoyed watching your gardens and green spaces bloom. Whether you left your whole garden to grow, kept a section short, had a go at growing a wildflower meadow or just left a space to grow wild – it all makes a difference.
We’ve absolutely loved looking through all the pictures you’ve sent in and following your #NoMowMay journeys on social media. Please keep them coming!
Since the 1930s, we’ve lost approximately 97% of flower-rich meadows and with them gone are vital food needed by pollinators like bees and butterflies.
And with 1 in 5 British wildflowers under threat, it more important than ever to change the way we manage our gardens. A healthy lawn or green space with some long grass and wildflowers benefits wildlife, tackles pollution and can even lock away carbon below ground.
There are more than 20 million gardens in the UK, so even the smallest grassy patches can add up to a significant proportion of land which, if managed properly, can deliver enormous gains for nature, communities and the climate.
Here are some of our favourite No Mow May-ers from 2024!
A beautiful No Mow May lawn, filled with Bulbous Buttercup and Meadow Saxifrage. Credit: David and Annette Beeson
No Mow May isn’t just for gardens, green spaces all over the community can take part. This cemetery in Suffolk has been boasting buttercups and Meadow Saxifrage. Credit: Alison Barnes
To help nature, you don’t have to leave your whole garden to grow wild. Keeping some areas of your lawn short can help flowers like daisies and dandelions, as well as an abundance of wildlife.
The explosion of colour No Mow May can create can be a haven for us, and for nature.
Green spaces left to grow wild have bloomed with daisies and dandelions, providing a feast for pollinators.
Even if you don’t have a garden, many parks around the country are leaving sections of green space to grow for No Mow May – just like this park in Wales.
Every year we call for people, communities and councils to get involved in #NoMowMay – and you still can this year.
Even though we’re approaching June, you can still join the movement and register your green space. This helps us to better understand how much green space across the UK is growing wild. So please sign up and help us give nature the boost it deserves in 2024 (you’ll even be added to our interactive No Mow May map!).
And the buzz doesn’t have to stop there. If you are able to, why not carry on and do Let it Bloom June.
Grassland wildlife comes in different flavours and incorporating different grass lengths into your garden can be wonderful for wildflowers and wildlife alike. Take a look at our top tips for building on the success of No Mow May.
As well as bringing back the bloom to our lawns, there are many ways you can get involved with No Mow May, even if you don’t have a garden.
If you want to create a home for wildlife in your garden, here’s a couple of nature-friendly gardening jobs to inspire you. If you create the right space, nature will come.
It’s not just wildflowers which benefit from not mowing our lawns this May. Pollinators and other wildlife bring our gardens to life!
After a decade of research and partnership work on Fen Orchids we now believe that the orchid could finally be removed from the Red Lists for both England and Great Britain.
This programme began when Plantlife was invited, in 2007, to join the Fen Orchid partnership in England, led then by Norfolk Wildlife Trust under the Species Recovery Programme (funded by Natural England, then English Nature).
The Trust were Lead Partners for fen orchid in England under the English Biodiversity Action Planning structures then in force.
In 2008, the Trust asked if Plantlife could take over as lead partner. At that point, fen orchid had only been known in 3 sites in England since 1975 and the population had never been known to reach 1000 plants.
We accepted that invitation and set about reviewing and revising the conservation programme, following five main threads:
As with with most of Plantlife’s work and conservation programmes, the fen orchid programme always has been a partnership effort, with different organisations fulfilling different roles.
We acknowledge the excellent habitat management work undertaken by
The programme would not function without the financial, technical and moral support provided by organisations like
We also appreciate the technical expertise and resources contribution to the reintroduction programme provided by:
Since 2008, Plantlife’s role has been, under the English Species Recovery Programme, to:
The record of the partnership speaks for itself: since 2009, the population of fen orchids in England has climbed year on year.
From fewer than 1000 plants at three sites to an estimated 17,000 plants (in 2023) at seven sites.
The aim of the conservation programme has always been to reduce the Threat Status (as assessed by the English Vascular Plant Red List group) of fen orchid, and, if possible, to reduce the Threat level to Least Concern.
This is a challenging ambition but a recent re-assessment has shown that we are very close to our goal.
This is essentially due to the increase in the number of known English sites combined with consistent population expansion over the last 15 years.
This re-assessment applies also at Great Britain level, although recovery in Wales has been less rapid. Work there by Bridgend Council and Natural Resources Wales has produced very favourable results and Plantlife are proud that we contributed to a partnership that found funding for large scale dune restoration work there.
It’s not just trees that capture and store carbon – our meadows and grasslands can play an important role too.
If you’re taking part in No Mow May this year, then your garden will be well on its way to becoming a beautiful, biodiverse haven for nature. But there is a bonus to helping the wildflowers grow – as you allow lawn to become meadow, your garden becomes your very own carbon store, helping to reduce your carbon footprint.
When carbon sequestration is mentioned, most minds turn to trees. As a society we are more aware than ever before of the role of woodlands in combatting climate change and creating a space for nature. Much less discussed is the remarkable and equally vital role our grasslands and meadows can play in increasing biodiversity and capturing and storing carbon from the atmosphere.
When we create healthy grasslands and meadows by mowing or grazing livestock, we are simply replicating the activity of the herds of large wild herbivores that once moved across our hills and valleys. These habitats – if the grazing is gentle, infrequent and low intensity – recreate prehistoric landscapes and provide a home for our wild plants, insects, birds and fungi. Natural and semi-natural grasslands (meaning those that are farmed but in a traditional, less intensive manner) improve the quality of our water, prevent flooding and help increase the resilience of farming to summer droughts.
This grassland – and the healthy soil beneath it – also has an incredible and little-known potential to lock away atmospheric carbon. Soil carbon is a particularly valuable store; it is far more stable and long lasting than the carbon in trees, which is vulnerable to forest fires, pests and disease.
As plants live and grow, carbon from the atmosphere is drawn down into the plants’ roots, where the myriad creatures in the soil make use of it, locking it away beneath the ground. As the diversity of plants on the surface increases, so does the diversity of microorganisms, fungi and invertebrates beneath it. The more diverse the soil life, the richer the entire ecosystem – and the more carbon the soil can store.
The almost mystical role of mycorrhizal fungi is now well known. They connect roots to the nutrients in the soil, trading sugars that plants and trees create from sunlight with locked away minerals the fungi extract from the soil. We now know that plants and trees can communicate through these fungal networks, alerting them to pests and diseases and passing nutrients to others in need.
Mycorrhizal fungi have another important role – they are critical in the ability of plants to transfer carbon to the soil. In areas of farmland, meadow and garden where the soil is ploughed, fertilised or dominated by a small number of grass species, these mycorrhizal networks are much less effective – with fewer species and a lower carbon storage potential. When we look after our farmland and gardens with care, mowing and grazing infrequently and gently, avoiding ploughing and pesticides, we nurture our mycorrhizal fungi, helping the soil to become a more potent carbon store.
By taking part in No Mow May, you will not only begin to create a home for wildflowers and insects, you will also create healthier soils that nourish your garden plants – and reduce your carbon footprint in the process.
England alone has around 640,000 hectares of private garden. If just a quarter of this area was transformed into wildflower rich meadow – by mowing just once or twice a year and collecting the cuttings – then these garden soils could potentially capture and store an additional amount of carbon equivalent to more than 3 million average cars’ annual emissions within a spade’s depth, and well over 10 million cars in soils as deep as one meter*.
Lawns and gardens are of course just one part of the puzzle – the UK’s farmed grassland landscape offers tremendous potential for us to sequester carbon, while also protecting agriculture and biodiversity.
Farmers and landowners have a fundamental role to play – combining food production with sustainable grasslands that lock away carbon in healthy, ecologically rich soils. Some 40% of the UK’s land area is grassland – but much of this is intensively farmed, limiting its potential for carbon storage.
Globally, studies have suggested that 2.3-7.3 billion tons of CO2 equivalents per year could be sequestered through grassland diversity restoration. Carbon sequestration doesn’t just mean more trees. Healthy grassland, with the more sensitive grazing and less intensive farming that nourishes it, also keeps carbon out of the atmosphere.
No matter how large or small our garden, we all have a role to play, and we can all make a difference. It’s easy to get started – just put your lawnmower away this May!
Thousands of people across the country have been letting it grow for #NoMowMay this year – and this is what it looks like!
Whether you wish to create a meadow from scratch or introduce more wildflowers and grasses into your meadow or grassy area, or within your garden lawn, our species lists are here to guide you.
When selecting seeds, the first things to think about are:
You can do this by understanding what the species that are already there are telling you about your soil, fertility and its existing species, and/or by carrying out a soil test. If you are wishing to introduce more species to an existing grassland, then knowing what you already have is important so that you can tailor what you introduce to be an appropriate match.
It is best to survey your grassy area over the summer and use our handy ‘plant forensics’ guide to help you understand which species are likely to do well, before purchasing any seed.
We recommend using local seed mixes which you can check against the most appropriate species list below to be sure of a good match. Alternatively, if you know a local meadow with appropriate species, and you can organise either green hay or brush-harvesting, or even hand collecting ripe seed of specific species, this would be even better.
To help you on your meadow-making journey, we have made these lists as a starting point for creating or restoring grassland in a typical species-poor or species-moderate grassland scenario.
Please note that these are not definitive lists, and different sites and situations may require a more bespoke approach. If your grassland is outside of the ‘norm’ such as within a national park or AONB – then contact us for a more bespoke guidance on seed-mixes which will reflect the site’s regional distinctiveness.
For example, a pH neutral hay meadow in the south west of England won’t have the same community as a neutral hay meadow in the Lake District . We have also left out species which are very geographically specific. So, if you have an unusual site with potential to support a rare habitat, then contact us for more bespoke list.
These lists divide the species into Groups 1, 2 and 3, in order of their fussiness to levels of fertility and difficulty establishing from seed-introduction.
No quantities have been outlined in the lists below because seed providers should be able to provide this detail, or already have this outlined in their meadow-mixes. In general, however, grassland communities will be between 50-80% grass, and those with high fertility will usually settle into a higher percentage content of the grass species.
Where mildly alkaline:
Upland habitats – all those grasslands which are above approximately 250m (sea level). If close to 250m and somewhat sheltered, the above lowland species may also thrive.
We will keep you updated by email about our work, news, campaigning, appeals and ways to get involved. We will never share your details and you can opt out at any time. Read our Privacy Notice.
