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This year on National Meadows Day, we are campaigning for the protection of irreplaceable meadows – and we need your help!
Our wildflower meadows are a powerful ally in the fight against climate change – but they are in trouble!
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Our corporate partners benefit from 35 years of experience in nature restoration so they can achieve real impact.
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As COP28 draws to a close, one thing is crystal clear – we are at a pivotal moment.
Our CEO Ian Dunn reflects on the results of the climate conference and why there is reason to hope.
The 28th UN Climate Conference of Parties has just drawn to a close in Dubai, during which there had been fierce negotiations over the future of fossil fuels.
In the early hours of this morning the gavel went down and 198 governments agreed to “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner… so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science”. This wording is not as strong as we had hoped, but it is the first time fossil fuels have ever been explicitly mentioned in a final agreement (in almost 30 years of climate COPs) and as the UN Climate Chief Simon Stiell said, it is the ‘beginning of the end’ for fossil fuels.
This issue is at the heart of climate action and this agreement was long overdue.
There are other key outcomes from this COP which give us reasons for hope:
More specifically focused on the intertwined climate and nature crises, we welcome two new initiatives coming out of this COP.
1.COP28 UAE Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action
The acknowledgement and recognition of the adverse impacts of climate change on agriculture and food systems, and on billions of people including smallholders that are dependent on their resilience for food and livelihoods, is a great step in the right direction. Just two years ago, there was little or no mention of this issue, yet 158 governments endorsed the Declaration at COP28.
2. COP28 Joint Statement on Climate, Nature and People
This was an absolutely vital step in ensuring the climate and biodiversity crises are no longer considered as separate issues. We have known for a long time that they are fundamentally and intrinsically linked, and this is the first step in connecting the outcomes of the UNFCCC COP28 and the recently adopted Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
This announcement was made: ‘At COP28 during Nature, Land Use and Ocean Day, we affirm that there is no path to fully achieve the near- and long-term goals of the Paris Agreement or the 2030 goals and targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework without urgently addressing climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation together in a coherent, synergetic and holistic manner, in accordance with the best available science.’
Eighteen governments have endorsed this declaration so far and we need to see many more signing up to this joined-up approach in the weeks ahead.
At Plantlife, we work tirelessly to bring the value of grasslands to the forefront of conversations around farming, nature, biodiversity and climate, both in the UK and internationally. Covering more than half the Earth’s land surface and with the livelihoods of around 800 million people depending on them, the importance of grasslands and savannahs cannot be underestimated.
More generally, this COP marked a turning point for the role of Indigenous Peoples and the recognition of their contribution in not only safeguarding 80% of the world’s biodiversity, but their knowledge in living in true harmony with nature. Adopting this way of thinking will be a pivotal step in combating the climate crisis. Plantlife is aware of the importance of Indigenous knowledge particularly when it comes to Important Plant Areas (IPAs), with one of the criteria for identification being related to cultural significance.
You can read more about IPAs here specifically the Chiquitano people of Bolivia who identified 18 IPA sites to protect the Chiquitano dry forest which many of the community depend on for their food and livelihoods.
It is safe to say there was a healthy dose of concern and scepticism about this COP. What would come out of it? Would this be ambitious enough to secure a safe future for generations to come – from large cities in the Global North to the Small Island Developing States on the frontline of the climate crisis? The reference to fossil fuels and the language in the final text can be considered a win, but now we look to parties to solidify the ‘how’ and the ‘when’ of implementing the measures to ensure we stay at or below 1.5 degrees of warming.
One thing is crystal clear: we are at a pivotal moment, for the stability of our planet and all life on Earth, and Plantlife will keep working to show how wild plants and fungi can be at the heart of the solution.
Our Global Advocacy Coordinator, Claire Rumsey, shares her experience at COP28 understanding the role of nature and Indigenous Peoples in the climate conversation.
This WWF & Plantlife document makes the case for the world to recognise the vital role that grasslands and savannahs can play in addressing the climate and biodiversity crises.
We are teaming up with WWF (the World Wide Fund for Nature) at COP28 to press for better recognition of grasslands and savannahs, alongside other habitats.
Our Global Advocacy Coordinator, Claire Rumsey, will be at COP28 to speak up for the vital role of wild plants and fungi in the fight against climate change
At Plantlife, we are focused in gaining recognition for grassland ecosystems around the world as nature-based solutions to the climate crisis. Storing between 25-35% of the world’s terrestrial carbon, they are an underutilised resource.
It’s the final few days of COP28, but arguably one of the most important discussions is yet to come – Food and Agriculture.
The results of these topics will have far-reaching consequences on our wild plants and fungi. Our Grassland Advocacy Officer, Jo Riggall, explains why.
As I write this, I’m eating a piece of toast. As you read this, you may be eating something too. All 8.1 billion of us need food. Just like other types of consumption, such as oil and gas, our food consumption requires and releases energy. In fact, the food system is responsible for more than a third of greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans.
It therefore makes sense that food is a central focus of the climate Conference of the Parties (CoP28) taking place at the moment in Dubai.
The CoP28 theme today is ‘Food and Agriculture’, which is a good opportunity to put down my toast and highlight some of the food and agriculture discussions at CoP28, and what they mean for wild plants and fungi.
We rely on wild plants and fungi for so much, however they are the overlooked centrepieces at the heart of all ecosystems.
Take grasslands: the livelihoods of around 800 million people depend on them and they cover more than 50% of the world’s land.
Imagine nomadic reindeer herders navigating the Steppes in Mongolia, or small-scale pastoralists grazing their livestock on Kenyan savannahs. Humans are part of a virtuous Venn diagram, with grasslands at the centre:
It’s important to differentiate this approach to grassland management from the more intensive farming, that shatters the mutualistic relationship between people and the natural environment.
Intensive, large-scale agriculture relies on greenhouse gas-emitting synthetic fertilisers and ploughing, with tightly packed livestock damaging the sensitive flora and degrading the soil.
That’s why we’re looking to world leaders at CoP28 to recognise the value of healthy grasslands and savannahs as part of a sustainable food system, that helps boost biodiversity and tackle climate change.
We need joined-up action across governments and their policies tackling farming, food security, public health, nature & net zero.
At CoP28, 134 countries have signed up to the United Arab Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action, committing to integrate food into their climate plans by 2025.
This could be an important step towards real action to bring down emissions from global agriculture, in tandem with supporting farmers, pastoralists, and smallholders who farm in a low-carbon way.
However, alongside real action there’s also real risk – of greenwashing. We should be sceptical of subsidies that still go towards funding intensive agriculture, or untested technological solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
We’ll be watching how governments put this Declaration into practice.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether governments will make tangible commitments to actually shift food production away from intensive agricultural practices.
Will governments stop harmful agricultural subsidies and instead pay and support less intensive farming, that helps restore swathes of degraded grassland?
Will they ignore the huge farming and fertiliser lobby to help farmers break free from costly input cycles?
Will the rights of indigenous people and local communities to their land and traditional pastoralism be respected?
We want the protection, sustainable management, and restoration of healthy grasslands to be meaningfully incorporated into countries’ climate and biodiversity strategies.
As I finish my meal, these are the questions I will ponder ahead of CoP28’s final few days. The solutions to the climate and biodiversity crises are by no means bitesize, but I have hope, if we’re all sat together at the same table.
Jo Riggall
Plantlife Cymru
Did you know that Mistletoe, like a number of our native plant species, is actually a parasite?
Discover this Christmas classic’s unusual way of surviving, alongside a host of other fascinating parasitic plants, in this in-depth read from Robbie Blackhall-Miles and Lizzie Wilberforce.
Thanks to its association with Christmas, and its appearance on cards and decorations, Mistletoe is probably one of our most recognised native species. This association also means that the ‘kissing plant’ is also harvested in huge volumes each year for seasonal decorations. That tradition probably derives from a long history of use in ritual, which may have started with Celtic druids.
It’s seen variously as a symbol of fertility, love, and peace across European cultures. However, the kissing tradition itself appears to have developed more recently, perhaps in the 18th century.
But what of the plant in the wild? Although it has a widespread distribution in the UK, it is quite rare in many areas. Its greatest abundance is strongly clustered around the Welsh-English border areas.
In fact, it’s also the county flower of Herefordshire, where you can find our Joan’s Hill Farm Nature Reserve. Here, it is strongly associated with the area’s fruit orchards, although it grows on a wide range of deciduous trees such as poplars and limes as well as orchard species.
Mistletoe is an ‘obligate hemi-parasite’ of the trees on which it grows: that is, it doesn’t just grow on trees as a physical host. It actually can’t survive without the biological symbiosis it has with the host tree, although it does also photosynthesise. So how does that relationship work?
Mistletoe produces seeds in white berries – itself unusual, being our only native plant with truly white berries. The seeds are spread through the landscape by birds, such as thrushes (via their droppings) and Blackcaps (which move seeds mechanically on their bodies).
Both routes allow seeds to stick to new tree hosts, where if the location is suitable, they germinate. The young emerging seedlings are photosynthetic, and so at this early stage they are not dependent on the tree.
As the seedlings grow, some shoots penetrate the bark of the tree and connect with the tissue beneath- the beginnings of the parasitic relationship. In the plant’s first year, its connections with the tree’s tissues already provide it with water and crucial mineral nutrients.
It’s only then, over the following few years, that the plant very slowly begins to grow. Mistletoe is a long-lived perennial.
Parasitism is a form of symbiosis where one partner benefits at the expense of the other. Mistletoe thrives on account of the tree, but the reverse is not true. If a tree has a lot of Mistletoe, it can eventually affect the tree quite severely, impeding growth, and for example, making it more susceptible to drought as a result of water loss.
Parasitism has evolved multiple different times across the plant world. The largest flower in the world, Rafflesia arnoldii, is the flower of a parasite. There is a parasitic conifer, Parasitaxus usta, that grows in New Caledonia, and Hydnora africana looks like it comes from a scifi movie.
In the UK we have a wealth of parasitic and hemi parasitic plants that gain nutrients directly from other plants as well as a whole bunch of plant species that rob their nutrients either fully or partially from fungi.
Find out more about Mistletoe, including where to find it, how to identify it, and even more interesting facts and stories about this parasitic plant.
Hywel Morgan, Plantlife’s Agricultural Advisor, explains how and why he made the switch to sustainable farming on his 230-acre farm in Wales.
This summer Plantlife Cymru worked with Species Champion Carolyn Thomas MS to raise awareness of the importance of grasslands in Wales.
How Plantlife is moving one of the most endangered wildflowers in Europe off the Red Data list for Great Britain.
A biodiversity-boosting project, working with landowners, to restore and create 100 hectares of species-rich grasslands.
Since the 1930s, 97% of wildflower meadows across England and Wales have disappeared due to pressures from intensive agriculture and development.
We want to go beyond caring for the 3% that are left.
The Meadow Makers project will work with landowners to restore and create, as well as monitor and manage, 100 hectares of species-rich meadows over the next 15 years.
We’ve received a record-breaking £8million from National Highways to restore meadows, from Dartmoor to north Yorkshire, to help people nature and wildlife.
Meadows and species-rich grasslands are magnificent, in many ways. They are extraordinary ecosystems, with native wild plants at their heart.
Species richness in grasslands can significantly improve carbon storage in the soil, which is a vital tool for addressing the climate crisis. They also have fungal networks covering thousands of miles, can be home to up to 140 species of wildflowers, provide flood mitigation and provide nutrient-rich grazing for livestock.
Species of wildflower can be found in a single meadow
Hectares of meadow will be restored and created
Insects are supported by the food plant Common Bird’s-foot Trefoil alone
Over the next 15 years, seven sites – six in Devon and one in North Yorkshire – will undergo significant grassland restoration with our team of meadow specialists.
Every meadow is home to different species and habitats. This project will require unique care to allow the meadows to bloom wilder than ever.
In Dartmoor
On the North York Moors
The Meadow Makers project will contribute towards our goal of restoring 10,000 hectares of species-rich grassland by 2030.
What you need to know about grasslands and how to manage them
Plantlife is excited to welcome a new nature reserve to our growing network of sites around the UK – Three Hagges Woodmeadow in Yorkshire.
Three Hagges Woodmeadow is a 10-hectare reserve near York, and an incredible example of woodmeadow habitat which hosts an abundance of plants and invertebrates. Visitors can connect with nature among native British trees such as Small Leaved Lime Tilia cordata and Hazel Corylus avellana, which grow alongside some of our most iconic meadow species such as Ox-eye Daisy Leucanthemum vulgare and Lady’s Bedstraw Galium verum.
Woodmeadows, or wooded meadows, are species-rich hay meadows with stands of trees – an ancient form of combining agricultural meadows with forestry. Three Hagges Woodmeadow is a patchwork of woodlands, copse and wildflower meadows, including a lowland wet meadow and a lowland dry meadow.
Woodmeadows are ‘habitat mosaics’, comprising of lots of ‘messy edges’ which support a huge variety of homes for wildlife. Long established woodmeadows can support extraordinary levels of botanical diversity, with some ancient European examples supporting 70+ plant species per square metre.
Paul Rowland, Conservation Land Manager:
‘Nature reserves offer islands of sanctuary for wildlife that’s under ever-increasing pressure from human activity and climate change. Plantlife’s work aims to not only provide robust and dynamic habitats for plants, fungi and their associated birds, animals and invertebrates to thrive, but also to extend their influence beyond their boundaries.
Nature reserves can and must be more than just islands. Our green spaces can provide sanctuary for us too – through wellbeing, education and the more sustainable production of healthy food.
Three Hagges Woodmeadow provides Plantlife with a unique opportunity, in our suite of nature reserves, in that it is a restored habitat on a site that was previously used for intensive agriculture. We will enhance the wood and grassland habitats here to help nature flourish and to provide opportunities for people to learn about, enjoy, contribute to and be rewarded by a beautiful environment that’s rich in plants and fungi.’
Expanding our network of reserves is important for nature, as it allows us to use the wealth of expertise within Plantlife to help green spaces thrive.
Recent work on our reserves has included planting fruit trees to benefit an ancient orchard landscape and the rare beetles that call them home as well as managing meadows to help Butterfly Orchids bloom in record numbers.
Welcoming a new reserve is a transformational moment in Plantlife’s history. It presents us with a unique opportunity to deliver our ambition to protect and restore wild plants and fungi, in meadows and woodlands for communities across the UK.
Ian Dunn, Plantlife’s CEO shares his excitement as we celebrate our 24th reserve:
“We were absolutely delighted to have been chosen by the Woodmeadow Trust to become the new guardians of their activities and assets. We are thrilled to be the new custodians of Three Hagges Woodmeadow and wider woodmeadow work moving forward and consider the combination to be a major contributor to Plantlife’s ambition for delivering a world rich in plants and fungi.”
Discover Plantlife’s newest reserve in Yorkshire, England.
Ryewater Farm in Dorset is a 38 acre site of meadows, surrounded by woodland and bordered by a stream.
Lugg Meadow is best known for its spectacular displays of fritillaries in spring, and it's rare Lammas floodplain meadow habitat.
Three Hagges Woodmeadow is Plantlife’s newest reserve in Yorkshire. Discover more about the reserve and how to visit.
Meg Griffiths
Ever wondered why we need to go out and count rare plants?
Meg Griffiths from the Plantlife Cymru team, reflects on a summer of lichen hunting and data collection for the Natur am Byth! Project.
Natur am Byth! is a cross-taxa partnership, which means many different organisations are working together to save a variety of species – from insects and plants to birds. This is important as when any species is lost from an ecosystem, it can make the whole ecosystem weaker and less able to cope with change, regardless of what kind of species it is.
One element the Natur am Byth programme focuses on is the mini-wonders of the Welsh Marches. The area has a rich diversity of mosses and liverworts, lichens, fungi and insects. These species all have one thing in common: they are generally pretty tiny. Many people just aren’t looking closely enough to spot them –and that’s what we want to change.
But before we can get started protecting rare species, we need to know where we’re currently at. ‘Baseline monitoring’ gives us a picture of how our target species, and the sites where they exist, are doing – we can then use this data to plan how we’ll manage those areas for nature. We can also track how these species recover in the future.
So, I went out to some very beautiful sites in Mid-Wales, hunting for some of the project target lichen species. This is what I found
Lichen hunting can be like looking for a needle in a haystack – except the needle is as small as a pinhead, and the haystack is a woodland.
I got rained on heavily, I got lost hunting for trees, I had to shoo away cattle who were trying to eat my notebook, and I spent far too long peering through my hand lens checking every gnarly nook and cranny for some of these miniscule marvels.
At times I felt like I was living in that miniature kingdom. I’d come across insects and die of fright thinking they were enormous, and I’d pull my eye away from the hand lens only to be dizzied by the astonishing complexity of the enormous world we occupy.
It has been a joy working to collect the data which can be used to demonstrate that the Natur am Byth project is having a positive impact and supporting these species.
Not only does the project have the potential to support these rare lichens with recovery, it also has the potential to change perceptions – magnifying the hidden worlds we overlook daily and showcasing the rare and special mini wonders that occupy them
The Natur am Byth partnership is Wales’ flagship Green Recovery project. It unites nine environmental charities with Natural Resources Wales (NRW) to deliver the country’s largest natural heritage and outreach programme to save species from extinction and reconnect people to nature. Thanks to players of the National Lottery over £4.1m from the Heritage Fund was awarded to the partnership in June 2023. NRW has contributed £1.7m and the Natur am Byth partners have secured a further £1.4m from Welsh Government, Arts Council of Wales and a number of charitable trusts, foundations and corporate donors. These include donations from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, and significant support from Welsh Government’s Landfill Disposals Tax Communities Scheme administered by Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA).
Robbie Blackhall-Miles
Robbie Blackhall-Miles shares story of how a tiny mountain plant’s name has evolved over the years, and it’s fascinating history in Wales.
Botanical plant names can tell you all kinds of things about a plant. Often, they are descriptive as in Saxifraga oppositifolia – literally, the opposite leaved rock breaker. Sometimes, they tell of the habitat in which the plant is found or its particular use as in Salvia pratensis – the cure from the meadows.
Personally, I prefer the descriptive names; the ones that guide me to where to find the plant or how to identify it. Colloquial names for plants, and those in other languages, can be equally descriptive, and tell of the things that people thought they should be used for, and why they were significant enough to warrant a name.
There are a few here in Wales that I love. Cronnell (Globeflower) just for the way it sounds, Merywen (Juniper) – because it’s so different from any of the common English names and Derig (Mountain Avens).
In our house ‘Our Derig’ has become a pet name for a plant that we visit each year. The etymology – the study of the origins of words – is wrapped up in something more than that though and in this case it comes down to its leaves rather than its flowers.
It seems surprising to me that the resemblance of its leaves to miniscule oak leaves was picked up on by the people of Wales as well as Carl Linnaeus who gave it its binomial name in his ‘Systema Naturae’ published in 1735. The name Linnaeus chose to give to Mountain Avens was Dryas octopetala.
In his book ‘Flora Lapponica’ (1737) Linnaeus wrote “I have called this plant Dryas after the dryads, the nymphs that live in oaks, since the leaf has a certain likeness to the oak leaf…. We found it, a gorgeous white flower with eight petals that quivered in the cool breeze”. The Dryads were demigods, and their lives were tied to the life of the oak tree they inhabited. In Greek mythology a tree could not be cut without first making peace with the dryad that inhabited it.
The Welsh name for the plant takes the same likeness to oak into account with the name coming from ‘dâr’ and ‘ig’; ‘Dâr’ means oak (Derwen means Oaktree) and ‘ig’ is a reduction of the Welsh ‘fachigol’ which means diminutive.
The Welsh name Derig was first published in J.E. Smith’s Flora Britannica between 1800 and 1804, and was published again by Hugh Davies in his Welsh Botanology (1813). This early publication of this name leads to the idea that it was in general use before that point and the plant was known from Wales by the local people.
In 1798 the botanist Reverend John Evans made a tour of North Wales but never managed to climb Yr Wyddfa. Despite this Evans wrote of the routes the Snowdon guides took up the mountain and the plants that could be found there. It is interesting that he lists Mountain Avens amongst these plants despite there being no evidence of it ever having been found on that mountain.
It wasn’t until 1857 that the plant collector William Williams with discovering Mountain Avens in the mountains of Eryri, high above Cwm Idwal. Later, Williams was accused of having planted the species at this site, as it wassuspected that he planted rare species to further establish his notoriety as a botanical guide. It wasn’t until 1946 that a second site for Derig was discovered by Evan Roberts in the Carneddau.
Derig is still only found at just two sites in Wales yet there are a few other sites, including on Yr Wyddfa, where the plant community with which it shares its two known homes exists.
So, what is in a name? In this case it’s a tantalising glimpse of local knowledge surrounding plants, particularly a ‘diminutive oak’ whose first discoverers may not have been eminent botanists of the time. In this case it seems likely that the people who lived and worked alongside it knew it well, certainly well enough to recognise it and give it a name of its own.
Thanks to Lizzie Wilberforce, Dewi Jones and Elinor Gwynn for helping with the research for this blog.
Picture credit – Derig in Welsh Botanology, Hugh Davies, 1813, Page 182 pt. 1-2 – Welsh botanology … – Biodiversity Heritage Library (biodiversitylibrary.org)
Did you know that more than 90% of fungi are unknown to science?
Throughout February, Plantlife is participating in Reverse the Red’s Fungi month – a chance to better understand the mysterious worlds of some of our rarest fungi species.
Reverse the Red is a global movement aimed at raising awareness of the work being done by organisations and communities to reverse the trend of biodiversity loss, ensuring the survival of wild species and ecosystems.
The initiative brings together scientists, advocates, and partners who use data and science-based conservation approaches, with the goal of reducing our rarest species vulnerability, and eventually removing them from the Red list.
Red lists are a globally recognised way of listing and identifying the threat of extinction to species. Species are assessed objectively based on ongoing scientific information and research.
The world’s most comprehensive list is the International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. There are other more local red lists, such as the Great British Red List.
Fungi are a crucial partner to nearly all life on Earth, with an estimated 2.5 million species of fungi found around the world. But more than 90% of fungal species are unknown to science.
This lack of data means it is hard to know if some of these important species need conservation help.
Only 0.4 % of fungi that we know about have had their global conservation status assessed for the IUCN Red List Assessment. That is only 0.02% of the fungi estimated to exist – imagine the amazing species yet to be found!
People around the world are getting outside and recording fungi to help better understand them.
Since the beginning of 2020 more than 10,200 species of fungi have been named as new to science.
This includes 6 new species of webcap uncovered in the UK – 3 in Scotland and 3 in England, such as Cortinarius heatherae, spotted alongside a river beside Heathrow airport.
It’s not just wildflowers which benefit from not mowing our lawns this May. Pollinators and other wildlife bring our gardens to life!
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.
A rainbow of wildflowers in your lawn doesn’t just bring garden owners joy, but is also the sign of a healthy and thriving garden.
No Mow May
In May 2023 thousands of you liberated your lawn for nature during No Mow May, leaving the wildflowers to grow and providing a space for nature, from inner cities to remote rolling hills.
But what does a No Mow May lawn look like at the end of the month? Take a look at the pictures this year’s participants sent in!
With 1 in 5 British wildflowers under threat it is more important than ever to change the way we mow our lawns.
These wildflower stuffed lawns show that in over just a month, your grassy spaces can be a lifeline for wildlife. This gallery shows that people, wild plants, and pollinators alike can live side by side in a thriving green space.
Shorter flowering lawns are a haven for daisies and dandelions, whereas longer patches allow taller plants like Oxeye Daisies and Musk Mallow to bloom.
A No Mow May lawn can be beautiful as well as a refuge for wildlife. This sunny sea of buttercups from Samantha Barnes shows just how striking our wild plants are.
A short flowering lawn is a hardy and practical space, even when you need to nip to the shed for your bike! Image by Judy Manson
You can let wildflower grow tall even in a small patch of lawn in your garden, image by Jane Wood
Having a No Mow lawn doesn’t mean no fun! A flowering lawn provides the perfect spot for the next generation of nature lovers to discover the joy of the great outdoors. Image by Tina Radford
Taking part in No Mow May is a wonderful addition to any nature-friendly gardeners calendar. Long grass surrounding a pond can help provide space for amphibians. Image by Zoe Costello
This creative window display at a school is an inspiring reminder that caring for our wild plants is important to all generations. Image by Laura Churchill
A green oasis in a city centre. Allowing a diversity of plants to grow has the potential to improve the carbon capture potential of soil beneath our lawns by as much as 10%. Image by Kenneila Quashie
No Mow May participants reported sightings of many beneficial pollinators in their gardens, from bees to dragonflies. Image by Fiona Hobbs
Did your local council embrace No Mow May? 30+ councils let us know that they were allowing plants like Cuckooflower, a food plant of the Orange Tip Butterfly, to bloom. Image by Michael MacCuish
No Mow May doesn’t stop at your garden fence. Whole towns and cities bloomed with wildflower as councils and communities let their green spaces grow.
Schools embraced the magic of wild plants with beautiful signs and window displays, sewing the seed for future No Mow May’s that are bigger and wilder than ever before.
Watch the latest No Mow May results sent to us on our YouTube channel, and stay tuned for the latest updates as we head into our wildest summer yet.
By letting us know if you or your community space is taking part, you’ll be added to our map showcasing the collective power that this campaign has.Now sit back and watch the wildflowers grow…
Pollinators in the UK are in decline. But there are things you can do to be more pollinator friendly and help these important creatures.
It’s not just animals that have DNA in their cells, plants and fungi do too – and understanding it can help us with hard to identify plants.
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.
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