We have recently cut the grass at Long Meadow. Why did we do this?

Our long-term aim is to improve the stock of wildflowers on the meadow. Whilst there are many good things about the condition of the meadow, it does suffer from high nutrient levels. As a result, coarse grasses tend to crowd out the more delicate wildflowers.

We cannot achieve a reduction in nutrient level through grazing, a traditional method, without installing a lot of fencing – which would change the character of the meadow from an open space for all. 

Instead, we have had an early cut of the grass which should give the developing wildflowers a chance to come through before the grass gets too tall. We are very grateful to Daniel Wright organising his team at Brookfield Contracting for doing this work for free, as a contribution to the Abbey Fields “project”.

We will shortly be sowing a small patch in the meadow with locally collected wildflower seeds to pilot a possible means of quickly enhancing the wildflower communities. Before sowing we will scarify a small area – we will also scarify an adjacent area as a “control”, so we have something to assess the success of the pilot.

After this, we will be letting the meadow grow before cutting the grass in the summer. With the help of the Friends, we hope to organise seed collecting by volunteers in local meadows and continue the process of enhancing the number and variety of wildflowers in the meadow.

See also,

• Grass Cutting at Long Meadow - July 2021