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Wild Cotoneaster

This is our only native species of Cotoneaster in Wales, Cotoneaster cambricus, and in the 1970s it was down to as few as only 6 plants in the wild, making it international critically endangered!

It’s only found in the Great Orme IPA near Llandudno, where our vascular plants officer, Robbie, works alongside the National Trust, Conwy County Borough Council, Natural Resources Wales, PONT, and the tenant farmer, Dan Jones, to graze the land in a way that benefits the species.

How we’re helping Wild Cotoneaster

This, paired with efforts to plant out young plants have been a resounding success, and we’ve gone from 6 to well over 70 plants. We are now working with research students, Dan and Treboth botanic garden to understand the impacts that changes to grazing practices have on this species, so that we can understand how best to manage for it in the future.

What we’re finding is that managing to support this species is having knock-on positive effects on other species on the Great Orme, which demonstrates how targeted species recovery work can have a cascading positive benefit beyond that species, out into the wider ecosystem.

Snowdon Hawkweed

Snowdon Hawkweed

This small, sunny Welsh plant, a member of the dandelion family, is internationally critically endangered. It makes its home on the most inaccessible mountain slopes of Eryri (Snowdonia), where it is safe from disruption.

However, due to the changing climate, even these sanctuaries are becoming inhospitable, it is both literally and figuratively out on the very edge.

Its preference for inaccessible places, makes it problematic (to say the least) to monitor. However, conservation and extreme sports aligned when Robbie, Alex Turner and Mike Raine went out on ropes to survey for this mountain treasure. Their efforts have revealed that the plant’s population has increased from 2 individuals, to 4!

While that is still terrifyingly few, it represents a doubling of the global population of this species, and gives us hope that with support, these populations can recover.

How we’re helping Snowdon Hawkweed

We are delighted to have received funding for Natur am Byth!, Wales’ flagship species recovery project which we are part of, along with nine other environmental charities. Robbie will be leading on the Tlysau Mynydd Eryri (Mountain Jewels of Snowdonia) to provide an invaluable lifeline to species like Snowdon Hawkweed.

Once the project begins in September we’re going to be working with the National Trust to manage the grazing of sheep and goats on the mountain, which will hopefully create more undisturbed habitat for this species to colonize.

Rosy Saxifrage - Robbie Blackhall-Miles

Rosy Saxifrage

This mountain jewel is part of a suite of species that was once widespread all across the UK and Europe, the Arctic-Alpines.

Following the last Ice Age it would have been found over a large extent of Britain, but colonisation of species from the south as temperatures have risen has saw it retreat to all but our highest mountain tops, where the annual temperatures are sufficiently cool.

How we’re helping Rosy Saxifrage

This species is classed as threatened on the UK level red list, even though globally it’s been assessed as Least Concern (it can be found across the alpine landscapes of Europe). Each species is really important part of our natural heritage and to lose a species native to a country represents a significant loss, not only culturally, but ecologically too.

Rosy saxifrage is one such species that we’ve lost, it is now extinct in the wild in Wales. But efforts are underway to reintroduce it to a trial site later this year. Fantastically, the plants that will be used are of Welsh provenance, saved from a cutting taken in the 1960s, meaning that our national genetic identity for this species will be preserved and allowed to repopulate our landscape one more.

Why do we even bother?

Wildflowers in pink, purple and yellow among grass in Cae Blaen-dyffryn.

Our species are the fundamental parts of biodiversity – the more species there are in a habitat, the more diverse that habitat is. It is this diversity that allows ecosystems to function healthily and be more resilient.

This means, when we lose species to extinction, it undermines our ecosystem’s ability to adapt and respond to climate change and other existential threats. This is the primary reason why recovering species is one of our priorities at Plantlife. With partners, we plan to recover 100 plant species, and move them out of high extinction risk categories, into lower risk categories.

We are proud supporters of the global Reverse the Red campaign – a movement dedicated to spotlighting all of the work that’s being done to try and stop extinctions and prevent further species decline.

Tune in across the month to find out more about the species that we and our partners are working on to Reverse the Red and fight back against extinction.

What’s that Moss: ID Tips for Beginners

What’s that Moss: ID Tips for Beginners

Discover how you can identify the mosses where you live, and read about Lizzie's challenge to learn 10 mosses!

How to Find and Identify Waxcap Fungi
A red fungi growing in grass

How to Find and Identify Waxcap Fungi

Grasslands like meadows and parks are not just home to wildflowers, they are also an important habitat for waxcap fungi.

Lichen Hunting in the Welsh Marches
A stick covered in lichen

Lichen Hunting in the Welsh Marches

Ever wondered why we need to go out and count rare plants? Meg Griffiths reflects on a summer of lichen hunting for the Natur am Byth! Project.

Crymlyn Burrows Bioblitz and Sculpture launch with Dynamic Dunescapes

Date: Sunday 16 July

Time: 10:00 – 15:30

Location:
Crymlyn Burrows SSSI
Swansea University Bay Campus, SA1 8EN
what3words.com/drooling.blend.binder

Join Dynamic Dunescapes and Swansea University in celebrating the launch of the new Crymlyn Burrows Dune Gateway sculpture.

Free – Booking required for walks

A group of volunteers take part in a citizen science session on the dunes

Join Dynamic Dunescapes and Swansea University in celebrating the launch of the new Crymlyn Burrows Dune Gateway sculpture. Explore with Plantlife, Natural Resources Wales, the Southeast Wales Biodiversity Records Centre (SEWBReC) and Buglife on 16 July for a day of celebration as we cut the ribbon on a new sculpture installation at the burrows. Designed with local input the aim of the sculpture is to celebrate the diversity of plants and wildlife that can be discovered on the site.

Event schedule

All day: From 10:00 to the end of the event join us by:

  • Enjoy free refreshments
  • Recording what wildlife can be found on the dunes through a bioblitz, no experience necessary with all instruction available on-site from SEWBReC.
  • Taking part in our scavenger hunt – see if you can spot what different wildlife is included in the design of the sculpture and then head out to the dunes to find the plant and wildlife for real and take a picture of your discoveries! There will be a prize draw for all completed scavenger hunts.

10:30 – 12:00: Discover the dunes with site Warden Ben Sampson and local volunteers. Join the team for a general wildlife walk to discover the Crymlyn Burrows SSSI – learn about how sand dunes form, what plants and wildlife call them homes and what work is being done to conserve the burrows.

12:00 – 13:00: We’ve left some time for you to eat lunch, relax in the sun or make some more wildlife recordings. Although there are shops on site the offering is limited in summertime so please bring your lunch with you.

13:00 – 13:30: Join us to celebrate as we cut the ribbon on the new sculpture! Share your own pictures with the hashtag #SculptureSelfie and enjoy free refreshments.

13:30 – 15:00: Discover the pollinators of the dunes and learn more about the B-lines project with Ai-Lin Kee from Nature on your Doorstep. This session is being delivered as part of Buglife Cymru’s Neath Port Talbot B-Lines Project– a 3-yr project, working with communities and partners to restore and create wildflower-rich habitat within the B-Lines network, supporting pollinators including nationally rare species such as the Long-horned Bee and the Shrill Carder Bee.

All under-18s must be accompanied by an over-18. Well-behaved dogs on a short lead welcome. Please wear sturdy footwear – dunes can be exposed and it is recommended to dress in layers. Should you have any queries regarding the event please contact Hannah.Lee@Plantlife.org.uk.

For all activities meet at the Margam Square entrance of Crymlyn Burrows Site of Special Scientific Interest. This is located on Crymlyn Way within the Swansea Bay Campus

More events

Why Temperate Rainforests in Britain Matter
Moss covers the ground and glows bright green in the sunlight. Trees can be seen in the foreground stretching into the distance in a beautiful temperate rainforest.

Why Temperate Rainforests in Britain Matter

Tue, 17 Jun 2025
19:00
Online | free

Explore the globally important, rare and often forgotten habitat of temperate rainforests.

Past events

Orchid Walk at Ranscombe Farm
Close up of a Fly Orchid

Orchid Walk at Ranscombe Farm

Thu, 29 May 2025
13:30 – 16:30
Ranscombe Farm Nature Reserve | free

Join our Ranscombe Farm Reserve Manager Ben Sweeney, on a guided walk of this Important Plant Area. Head out across our flagship reserve to spot some of the rare orchids and other wildflowers that make it so special.

Plants in the City: Remarkable Life of Urban Plants
A fern grows out from a wall on a street in an urban environment, you can see the pavement stretching into the distance and houses and parked cars to the side.

Plants in the City: Remarkable Life of Urban Plants

Wed, 7 May 2025
19:00
Online | free

Join leading botanist Trevor Dines, and Specialist Botanical Advisor Sarah Shuttleworth, to delve into the world of urban plants. Find out how these plants defy the odds to live on our streets.

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). 

Derig, Welsh for 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.  

A fascinating history of Derig in Wales

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.  

Mountain Avens in Wales today

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) 

What’s that Moss: ID Tips for Beginners

What’s that Moss: ID Tips for Beginners

Discover how you can identify the mosses where you live, and read about Lizzie's challenge to learn 10 mosses!

How to Find and Identify Waxcap Fungi
A red fungi growing in grass

How to Find and Identify Waxcap Fungi

Grasslands like meadows and parks are not just home to wildflowers, they are also an important habitat for waxcap fungi.

Lichen Hunting in the Welsh Marches
A stick covered in lichen

Lichen Hunting in the Welsh Marches

Ever wondered why we need to go out and count rare plants? Meg Griffiths reflects on a summer of lichen hunting for the Natur am Byth! Project.

In recent years, the public has been alerted by the media to worry about declines in insects, especially bees. As a former bumblebee research scientist, this wasn’t news to me because the range of many bumblebee species contracted significantly in the middle of the last century. There is little doubt that big changes in UK agriculture (and therefore most of our landscape) were responsible. 

To put it very simply, there aren’t as many flowers in the countryside now as there were (for over 1,000 years) So, for us, it was always an ambition to have a little bit of countryside of our own that we could manage for biodiversity, and after my getting early retirement, and Helen being made redundant, we were off like a shot to rural Wales in 2012. 

Yellow Rattle growing in grass

Planting the seed

Our fields had been sheep grazed for as long as anyone locally could remember, and they were still being grazed by a local sheep farmer who rents lots of small fields along the Tywi valley. 

We decided to manage one of ours as a hay meadow. Research has shown that in a new meadow the plant diversity increases more quickly if you introduce Yellow Rattle, which is partly parasitic on grasses and inhibits their growth. So, in 2013 we collected Yellow Rattle seed from a neighbour’s field about a mile away and sowed it in the field. We began excluding the sheep every year from the end of March and by April 2014 the Yellow Rattle was growing well. 

Making hay in Carmarthenshire  

A man drives a red tractor in a meadow

In mid-June 2014 we got the neighbouring farmer to cut and bale the field, but decided that it would be better in future to choose when to cut and so acquired a 1963 tractor and some small-scale haymaking implements. 

I’m not particularly keen to produce a hay crop, but for floral diversity the main thing is to ensure that all the cuttings are removed from the field to reduce the soil fertility; and the easiest way to do this is to cut and bale the hay. All we produce is sold to the farmer whose sheep return after the hay cut when grass regrowth begins. I leave the hay cut as late as possible, to allow more species to drop seeds. 

Which species appeared?

Each year, different species’ dominance rose and fell as the county plant recorder predicted they would.  For a couple of years there was so much Yellow Rattle, but soon it settled down to more of an equilibrium, while other things rose in frequency then settled down. Eyebright appeared after a couple of years, as did Whorled Caraway (the County Flower), and Cat’s Ear. 

A field of buttercups

Some plants (like Meadow Buttercup) were probably there already, but never got to flower because the sheep ate themBroad-leaved Helleborines appeared in 2016, and in 2017, a single Southern Marsh OrchidCommon Spotted and Heath Spotted (with hybrids between them) followed, and each year the orchid numbers have increased, it was up to 50 a couple of years back and well over 100 now. 

The field looks different as different plants come into flower in succession, but it even looks different on the same day in the morning and in the afternoon because the Cat’s Ear flowers close about lunchtime, so the field is much more yellow in the morning. 

Our countryside and wildlife need fields like this one.

Plantlife has done valuable work towards achieving that aim (especially with the recent “Magnificent Meadows” campaign). County Meadows Groups also do their bit to help small landowners to get results like this field, and in the group I chair (Carmarthenshire) we’re also trying to raise the profile of species-rich grasslands generally with the UK wide “Big Meadow Search” (www.bigmeadowsearch.co.uk).   

There are few people left who can remember when every farm had a hay meadow, but I hope we can succeed in bringing some back.  

What’s that Moss: ID Tips for Beginners

What’s that Moss: ID Tips for Beginners

Discover how you can identify the mosses where you live, and read about Lizzie's challenge to learn 10 mosses!

How to Find and Identify Waxcap Fungi
A red fungi growing in grass

How to Find and Identify Waxcap Fungi

Grasslands like meadows and parks are not just home to wildflowers, they are also an important habitat for waxcap fungi.

Lichen Hunting in the Welsh Marches
A stick covered in lichen

Lichen Hunting in the Welsh Marches

Ever wondered why we need to go out and count rare plants? Meg Griffiths reflects on a summer of lichen hunting for the Natur am Byth! Project.

We are well and truly into summer, and we’ve already witnessed a spectacular succession of wild plants flowering over the last few months. Now that we’ve waved goodbye to the anemones and hawthorn is beginning to fade, we’re welcoming the orchids.

Butterfly orchids are delicate, elegant plants, with a single floral spike bearing many pale, creamy green flowers. Each flower resembles a tiny moth (or butterfly) in flight, with its wings outstretched. They are sweetly scented and can be found growing in a diverse range of habitats, from moors and bogs to woodlands, but most commonly they are found in undisturbed grasslands and meadows. 

The difference between Greater and Lesser Butterfly Orchids

Butterfly orchid differences.

There are two species, Greater Butterfly Orchid Platanthera chlorantha and Lesser Butterfly Orchid Platanthera bifolia. The differences between them takes an expert eye to spot, and are to do with the angle between the pollen bearing organs of the plant (the pollinia).  

Both species are pollinated by moths. At night, the first signal a moth will pick up on is the fragrance of the orchid – once closer the pale flowers will stand out against the darkness.

UK orchids are in trouble 

Unfortunately, both species are experiencing dramatic declines nationally.  Greater butterfly orchid is faring the better of the two but is still classed as Near Threatened in the UK. Lesser butterfly orchid has been assessed as Vulnerable on the UK Vascular Plant Red List and has disappeared from over half of its previous range in the last 50 years. 

Declines across both species are because of changes in agricultural grassland management – these species need consistent management over a long time to thrive. Damaging land use change could include too much (or too little) grazing, drainage of fields, and even addition of chemical fertilisers. Orchids rely on a soil fungus to survive, and agricultural chemicals can kill off this unseen life support network. 

Thankfully, as their habitats are safe and protected within our reserves, these species are still thriving. To be sure of this, every year we participate in the butterfly orchid count to monitor how our populations of these beautiful plants are faring.  

2023’s Butterfly Orchid Count Results 

Why do we count our Butterfly Orchids? 

Monitoring how they are faring is an important part of understanding our reserves and making good management choices. Both our Welsh nature reserves are Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and both list the Butterfly Orchids as a notified feature- so there is a legal duty to ensure the populations remain in good condition 

Volunteers counting orchids at Caeau Tan y Bwlch nature reserve

We want to be able to demonstrate that the way we are managing land is benefitting them, and counting the number of orchids each year, and gathering supporting habitat information, can help us adjust our site management when we need to. This enables us to give the orchids the best possible chance they have going forwards. 

What’s that Moss: ID Tips for Beginners

What’s that Moss: ID Tips for Beginners

Discover how you can identify the mosses where you live, and read about Lizzie's challenge to learn 10 mosses!

How to Find and Identify Waxcap Fungi
A red fungi growing in grass

How to Find and Identify Waxcap Fungi

Grasslands like meadows and parks are not just home to wildflowers, they are also an important habitat for waxcap fungi.

Lichen Hunting in the Welsh Marches
A stick covered in lichen

Lichen Hunting in the Welsh Marches

Ever wondered why we need to go out and count rare plants? Meg Griffiths reflects on a summer of lichen hunting for the Natur am Byth! Project.

Porthkerry Park
National Meadows Day

Date: Saturday 1 July

Time: 11:00 – 15:00

Location: Porthkerry County Park, CF62 3BY

Join VOG, Bridgend and NPT Meadows Group at Porthkerry Country Park to celebrate all things meadow!

Free – Drop In Anytime

Family walking through long meadow grass.

What can I find at Cae Blaen-dyffryn in spring?

Cae Blaen-dyffryn is our south Wales nature reserve and can be found close to the town of Lampeter, in Carmarthenshire. It’s best known for its population of Greater and Lesser Butterfly Orchids (Platanthera chlorantha & P. bifolia) which flower in the high summer. 

However, a visit in spring is always rewarding. Luxuriant fresh growth in the grassland is fed by a warm sun and abundant rain. Cuckoos call from distant hills. Within the reserve, Meadow Pipits drop from the sky above you with their cascading song, and Stonechats call assertively from the scrub. 

What’s in bloom this month?

You can also find the earliest-flowering plant species breaking through in Cae Blaen-dyffryn in May and June.  If you look carefully, you can also find signs of other beauties still in store, like the feathery leaves of Whorled Caraway Carum verticillatum (Carmarthenshire’s ‘County Flower’) poking through. 

Discovering Orchids at Caeau Tan y Bwlch

Our North Wales nature reserve, sitting on a hillside above Clynnog-Fawr on the Llyn peninsula, is equally known for its population of Greater Butterfly Orchids which number in their thousands at the site.  

The meadows under the mountain pass face north east, making them a morning spot to visit if you wish to enjoy them in the sunshine at this time of year. They are as equally beautiful in the North Wales rain, however.

The cloddiau (earth and stone bank walls) between the fields are an equal show to the meadows, with their hedgerow tops of Rowan, Damson, Hawthorn and Blackthorn. If you look below the trees the Common Dog Violets Viola riviniana hide amongst the tree roots and the boulders. 

What else is in flower in spring?

The orchids are already visible in the meadow and the Yellow Rattle Rhinanthus minor is just starting to flower. 

There is something wonderful about the sense of promise yielded by flower-rich grasslands at this time of year. And a feeling you can’t wait to come back to see what you might find next. 

Caeau Tan y Bwlch is managed on behalf of Plantlife by North Wales Wildlife Trust. 

How do I visit a Plantlife nature reserve in Wales?

For more details on visiting our Welsh reserves in spring and throughout the year, visit our reserves page here Welsh Nature Reserves – Plantlife 

What’s that Moss: ID Tips for Beginners

What’s that Moss: ID Tips for Beginners

Discover how you can identify the mosses where you live, and read about Lizzie's challenge to learn 10 mosses!

How to Find and Identify Waxcap Fungi
A red fungi growing in grass

How to Find and Identify Waxcap Fungi

Grasslands like meadows and parks are not just home to wildflowers, they are also an important habitat for waxcap fungi.

Lichen Hunting in the Welsh Marches
A stick covered in lichen

Lichen Hunting in the Welsh Marches

Ever wondered why we need to go out and count rare plants? Meg Griffiths reflects on a summer of lichen hunting for the Natur am Byth! Project.

In Britain, agriculture is a dominant force in the plant communities we have, and our farm livestock is key in replicating the impacts of the constant movement of the wild herds of grazing animals that once roamed our countryside. Many, if not all, of our plant communities rely on some form of grazing or vegetation removal to ensure that they survive. 

An understanding of conservation grazing, hay cutting and scrub management can help our most species rich habitats thrive. 

Soay sheep herd, used for grazing and browsing on Berry Head, Devon.

Does grazing with animals help plants?

Overgrazing is one of the key issues for Arctic Alpine species for example, but of course it is not necessarily the only problem. For some, like plants that live in Calcareous grassland, under grazing may as equally be an issue. Or maybe it’s the fact that the plant community isn’t being grazed by the right type of animal? Or is it that it isn’t being grazed at the right time of year? Or that when its grazed there isn’t enough of the animals that need to be grazing it? Or maybe too many? So many questions! 

So how on earth do we please all the species all of the time?

It’s a question I often ask myself, and one that came up when we developed the Tlysau Mynydd Eryri Eryri’s Mountain Jewels project that forms part of Natur am Byth!. With 10 very different plant species and 2 invertebrate species, we must think about multiple different ways to ensure these are all looked after. 

For our tall herb species such as Alpine Saw Wort Saussurea alpina and the Eryri Hawkweed Hieracium snowdoniense we almost certainly need to consider grazing in the Autumn with cattle and maybe a short pulse of grazing in early May.

Mountain Avens

For the Thyme rich calcareous grassland, with its complement of rare eyebrights (like Welsh Eyebright Euphrasia cambrica), that is so important for the Eryri Rainbow beetle Chrysolina cerealis we probably need sheep right up until late April and then not again until a period in late August or September.

For Mountain Avens Dryas octopetala (pictured) we probably don’t want any grazers near it until the winter. If trees or brambles start to dominate a habitat, then we need a herd of goats but if we want some montane scrub of Juniper and Willow with tall herbs around the edges then the goats mustn’t get near. 

What does this mean for other grasslands, like lawns?

By having a combination of all these grazing animals managed and moved into just the right places at just the right time of year we can certainly have a good ‘go’ at getting the conditions right for everything. 

What is interesting about this question though is that it is also applicable to our lawns. #NoMowMay encourages us to leave our lawns un-mown for a whole month. We can extend it into ‘Let it bloom June’ but by then the daisies, dandelions and other short turf flowers of early May will have gone over and been outgrown by a multitude of other species. 

 

How can we ensure we have the widest selection of plants in our lawn throughout the year?

pyramidal orchids and wildflower in garden lawn

How can we ensure we please all the species so we can please all our pollinators? Well, we can make a very good go at it by simulating some of those grazing animals with our strimmer and our lawnmower.

To create just the right tapestry of lawn heights in the garden we can use our mower to create paths through our meadow lawns, changing the flow of the paths (maybe missing out some of the special plants that may have colonised the uncut lawn) on a regular basis. This random cutting aims to simulate grazing animals moving through the landscape. 

Go wild in the garden

We can even simulate the different types of grazing animals by choosing different heights to cut the paths. If you want daisies again make like a sheep and cut it short, if you want Knapweed and Oxeye daisies to reflower later on in the season you can be a cow and cut some of them before they finish flowering, if you get brambles or nettles then browse them down to the floor like a goat.

By leaving some patches long, some patches medium height and some patches short you will make an interesting mosaic of different lawn habitats that suits as many different species as possible. At the end of the year, before the grass starts to go brown and drop its seeds, one of the most important things you can do for your lawn-meadow is to graze it down completely (just like a huge herd of bison on migration would do) and reset the process for next year’s #NoMowMay fun.  

Snowdon Hawkweed

Whether its management of montane grassland and scrub for rare Arctic Alpines or a #NoMowMay lawn, conservation management is an important tool in ensuring we try to please all the species all the time as much as we possibly can. It isn’t a perfectly exact science, and it changes from year to year, and species to species, but the principles are there and for grasslands it’s really just all about the grazing (or mowing). 

What’s that Moss: ID Tips for Beginners

What’s that Moss: ID Tips for Beginners

Discover how you can identify the mosses where you live, and read about Lizzie's challenge to learn 10 mosses!

How to Find and Identify Waxcap Fungi
A red fungi growing in grass

How to Find and Identify Waxcap Fungi

Grasslands like meadows and parks are not just home to wildflowers, they are also an important habitat for waxcap fungi.

Lichen Hunting in the Welsh Marches
A stick covered in lichen

Lichen Hunting in the Welsh Marches

Ever wondered why we need to go out and count rare plants? Meg Griffiths reflects on a summer of lichen hunting for the Natur am Byth! Project.

Rhosneigr Outdoor Yoga
World Sand Dune Day

Date: Saturday 24 June

Time: 11:00 – 12:00

Location:
The Oyster Catcher
Llyn Maelog, Rhosneigr
Wales LL64 5JP
what3words.com/emphasis.prepped.afflict

Join us and Imogens Yoga Moves on the dunes for an outdoor** yoga session in this special coastal space.

Free – Booking Required

Five people in yoga stance in outdoor on grass

The session will run from 11:00 – 12:00 on 24th June, meeting at 10:50 on the flat grassy area of the dunes** directly behind The Oyster Catcher.

The session is free of charge and all equipment for the yoga practice will be provided, you are however welcome to bring your own. Please bring your own water and a blanket/jumper for the end of the session cool down.

Toilets, snacks, drinks and parking are available at The Oyster Catcher, when the weather is warm parking can be busy so please leave yourself ample arrival time.

All under-18s must be accompanied by an over-18. Unfortunately we cannot accommodate dogs at this event at this time.

Should you have any queries regarding the event booking please contact Hannah.Lee@Plantlife.org.uk. Should you have any queries specific to the yoga session format please contact imogensyogamoves@gmail.com

**in the unfortunate event of extremely adverse weather (heavy rain and/or very strong wind) the session will instead run at Llanfaelog community hub, Ty Croes, LL63 5SS. You will be asked for your phone number on booking, please provide this so we can update you should the weather turn.

Five people in yoga stance in outdoor on grass

Meet Imogen

I have a passion for designing creative yoga flows, helping to build strength and clarity in the mind and body. Where did this passion come from? I adore everything to do with sustainability and nature and how the outdoors can help us and how we can help the outdoors .

My aim with teaching is to find a joyful way, of finding a balance between fast and slow, strong and flexible.

Rhosneigr Guided walk
World Sand Dune Day Discover the Dunes

Date: Saturday 24 June

Time: 13:00 – 15:00

Location: The Oyster Catcher, Llyn Maelog, Rhosneigr, LL64 5JP what3words.com/emphasis.prepped.afflict

This World Sand Dune Day discover the dunes with Dynamic Dunescapes People Engagement Officer Dr Hannah Lee.

This walk is suitable for all, during the session we will explore the dunes of Tywyn Llyn, from small dune flowers to the buzzing of bees, plants of the shoreline and song of ground-nesting birds. Bring yourself, friends or family to experience and celebrate these special coastal spaces.

The session will run from 13:00 to 15:00 on Saturday 24 June, meeting at 12:50 on the flat grassy area of the dunes directly behind The Oyster Catcher (Llyn Maelog, Rhosneigr, LL64 5JP what3words.com/emphasis.prepped.afflict)

The session is free of charge, please bring your own refreshments (drinks and snacks) and dress for the weather. We recommend sturdy shoes. Hand lenses and small wildlife guides will be provided but we encourage you to bring your own or binoculars. Toilets, snacks, drinks and parking are available at The Oyster Catcher, when the weather is warm parking can be busy so please leave yourself ample arrival time.

All under-18s must be accompanied by an over-18. Unfortunately we cannot accommodate dogs at this event at this time. Should you have any queries regarding the event please contact Hannah.Lee@Plantlife.org.uk.

Hannah Lee on the dunes

Meet Hannah

Hello! I am the people engagement officer for the Dynamic Dunescapes project in Wales and some may have met me or our placement student out on the dunes or at a local event in North Wales over the past year. In 2023 the project is coming to an end and I really hope we can celebrate the amazing sand dune habitats through our World Sand Dune Day activities.

I hope to share the mysteries of the dunes and beach with you drawing from my time with the Charity Plantlife as well as my own background in Marine Biology.