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They might not be as colourful, but they’re every bit as important and add movement and texture to our landscape. From sweet scents to clever survival strategies, our native grasses are full of surprises.
When we think about our gorgeous grasslands, the focus can often be on wonderful wildflowers or waxcaps (and they definitely deserve the spotlight sometimes) – but we think grasses deserve a day in the sun too!
Grasses are tall and towering, with fluffy seeds scattering in the wind, these structural beauties not only add to our biodiversity, but they come with a number of other benefits too. Grasses can provide essential food for caterpillars and birds, shelter for insects, amphibians and smaller mammals, and stabilise soil with long root systems that help grasslands in droughts and floods.
The end of July is traditionally when hay meadows are cut, which is a timing that our wildlife has adapted to over generations. Hay cuts work in sync with the breeding times of ground nesting birds and insects, providing them with shelter when they need it most and then being cut back to boost biodiversity when they’ve left their nests.
So, while the end of summer might not be the best time to see grasses in meadows, there’s so many other grasslands to explore! Let’s take a peak in road verges, pastures and even our own lawns and local green spaces and discover 5 native grasses you need to know.
At first glance, Rough Meadow Grass looks like a typical grass. Quite tall, with its flat flowers hanging from the ends of short stalks, arranged along the stem like a Christmas tree. But rub your fingers along the fresh stem and you’ll notice it is slightly rough – hence the name.
It’s a fantastic plant to provide food for wildlife. In fact, just one plant of Rough Meadow Grass can produce up to 29,000 seeds, providing food for wildlife.
Find out more about Rough Meadow Grass here.
Sweet Vernal-grass is a beautiful meadow grass, found in meadows, pastures, verges and lawns.
If left to grow it can reach up to 60cm. This structure is fantastic for wildlife providing lots of safe places to hide.
One of our favourite things about this grass however, is actually its smell. Sweet Vernal-grass is the smell of a hay meadow; sweet and somewhere between vanilla and almond.
Find out more about Sweet Vernal-grass here.
Yorkshire Fog is easily identified and a very pretty grass to spot. The bottom of its stem looks like pink stripey pyjamas – no other grass looks like this. There are pink flushes too in its long flower head which look beautiful when swaying in the wind.
But it’s not just worth celebrating for its looks, it’s great for wildlife too, providing essential food for caterpillars and small mammals, as well as shelter.
This grass does spread very quickly however and can be dominating. It produces huge amounts of seeds which can germinate almost immediately – and buried seeds also remain viable for many years.
Find out more about Yorkshire Fog here.
Common Bent is a pretty grass that has a tiny, delicate, pink-tinged flower head, spreading out on thin branching stems. It’s a common grass that grows up to 70cm tall.
You can spot it in meadows, arable farmland, heathlands and parks and it prefers neutral to slightly acidic soil.
It’s another grass that turns late-cut meadows a beautiful soft pink hue when it flowers in July.
But it’s also great for wildlife – its tiny seeds are a late summer source of food for small birds, and its dense coverage offers perfect protection for small mammals and insects.
This is an interesting looking grass that has dense, unique flower heads that are flat on one side. In fact, it’s distinctive looks are where it gets its name, as it does resemble a dog’s tail.
It’s one you can spot in pastures, hay meadows and lowland grasslands all over the UK.
As well as its interesting looks, it’s amazing for wildlife – it’s an important food source, especially for the caterpillars of skipper butterflies and marbled white butterflies.
They might not be as colourful, but they're every bit as important and add movement and texture to our landscape. From sweet scents to clever survival strategies, our native grasses are full of surprises.
There are so many benefits to taking part in the No Mow Movement. From helping wildflowers and grasses to grow freely, providing food for pollinators, habitat for wildlife and helping to tackle the changing climate.
Yellow Rattle, is the single most important plant you need when creating a wildflower meadow. Here’s everything you need to know.
Our meadows have been part of our natural heritage for centuries and cared for by people for generations – but they are now more at risk than ever before.
The National Museum of Scotland has transformed its collections centre into a haven for insects and local wildlife by taking part in the No Mow Movement. Learn how.
It’s not just trees that capture and store carbon – our meadows and grasslands can play an important role too.
We’re in the height of summer, with sun and ice cream on the mind, which must mean one thing – National Meadows Day is here! What better time to shine a light on these incredible habitats and take action to protect them.
Did you know that meadows have been part of our natural heritage for centuries? They have been cared for by people for generations and we cannot let them disappear.
How would you feel if someone knocked down an historical building like the Houses of Parliament, just to build it somewhere else? Or reduced Edinburgh Castle to rubble and created a lacklustre replica. It wouldn’t be the same, right?
The same applies to meadows, which are now more at risk than ever.
Without proper protections, the destruction of meadows is continuing across Britain. That’s why we’re calling for irreplaceable meadows to be added to the Irreplaceable Habitats list.
Meadows support a whole array of valuable wildlife. The unique interplay of geology, weather, and grazing animals have favoured particular communities of plants, which form relationships with mycorrhizal fungi in the soil.
Layers and layers of soil have built over time in meadows, and are home to wiggling earthworms, busy insects, and a whole planet-worth of microbes.
The complex relationships between wildlife in meadows are finely balanced. For example, the Adonis Blue butterfly only feeds on Horseshoe Vetch. If this plant disappeared in a local area, so too would the butterfly.
This would then impact ants which have a reciprocal relationship with the butterfly, thus reducing food sources for birds – and so on.
These meadows are magnificent crucibles of life and cannot be recreated within a meaningful timeframe.
National Meadows Day, the first Saturday in July is the perfect time to celebrate the sweet-smelling, colourful cacophony of meadows. From the white froth of Meadowsweet, to purple pom-pom heads of Devil’s-bit Scabious straining to be seen.
While National Meadows Day is a celebration of the meadows that we have, it’s also a time to highlight all the meadows that have been lost.
The past century has seen them ploughed, over-fertilised, bulldozed for buildings, and destroyed by misplaced tree planting.
An estimated 97% of all of our meadows have been lost, many of these meadows are historic, irreplaceable meadows. Meadows that have been in our society and communities for centuries, unique habitats that has well-established ecosystems that we and nature relies on.
The remaining meadows that have clung on through the decades or centuries are the last bastions of our farming and cultural heritage. These meadows are truly irreplaceable and we want to protect them for the future.
To protect meadows, we’re calling for irreplaceable meadows to be added to the Irreplaceable Habitats List. But, what does this mean?
The UK Government has classed some habitats, like ancient woodlands and blanket bogs, as irreplaceable habitats. This means that they should have more protection in planning policy, where they can’t be harmed by development unless in exceptional circumstances.
In England, the UK Government is proposing sweeping changes to planning policy with the Planning and Infrastructure Bill which puts our most beloved habitats and wildlife at risk of inappropriate development.
That’s why it’s more important than ever for these meadows to be recognised as irreplaceable habitats and get the protections they both deserve and need.
Governments must take action now. We’re calling for the UK Government to add irreplaceable meadows and grasslands to the list of irreplaceable habitats,
We also want to see the Scottish Government take this important step. While the Welsh Government has explicitly listed species-rich grasslands as a type of irreplaceable habitat, there’s still work to get Government to understand their value.
Help us make sure that irreplaceable meadows are not just a memory. Take action by:
Join us for a deep dive into your spring lawn and learn everything you need to know about how to prep for the best No Mo May!
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.
From bumblebees to birds and fungi to flies, meadows are micro-cities of wildlife.
Wildflower meadows, a staple of the British countryside, are a buzz of activity, especially in the spring and summer. It’s not just the wildflowers and fungi that rely on their diverse vegetation, in fact, a range of wildlife can call these habitats home. By growing a meadow, you can also create a home or hunting ground for bees, butterflies, invertebrates, birds, mammals and reptiles.
Here are some of the animals you might spot in a meadow:
Our friends at Buglife can tell you more
Buzz over to the Bumblebee Trust here.
Flutter over to Butterfly Conservation for a bit more
Fly over to the RSPB for a bit more
Meander over to the Mammal Society to find out more
Slither over to Amphibian and Reptile Conservation to find out more
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