UK Edition
Why British meadows need all our support to keep blooming
As he swings a scythe through Chimney Meadows, Rick Saunders likes to imagine what it would have looked like in medieval times. The volunteer and landscape history enthusiast is fascinated by the history of fields such as Chimney, in Oxfordshire. But although it has remained intact as a farm since Saxon times, the tradition of grassland cultivation there hasn't been unbroken.
Meadows were once part of the fabric of community life, providing grazing and hay for livestock as well as employment and food, but when the Wildlife Trust took on the farm it had, for decades, been planted with wheat and barley. It fitted a picture of wider meadowloss in Britain that has seen a 97 per cent reduction, largely due to agriculture and development, since 1940; an area equivalent to one and-a-half times the size of Wales.
According to campaign group Plantlife there are just 26,000 acres (10,500 hectares) of lowland wildflower meadow and 2,223 acres (900 hectares) of upland hay meadow in Britain, mostly surviving as small individual fields on farms. In April, it revealed that roadside verges have become the last refuge for some of Britain's rarest plants. While some of England's best grassland sites have legal protection through their designation as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), there are many important sites that do not. In Nottinghamshire only 1.56 per cent of the land area is SSSI, though Local Wildlife Sites cover 10 per cent of the county.
It sounds like a bleak picture, but the Wildlife Trusts are doing all they can to help protect those meadows that are left, as well as restoring others. Chimney, now a species-rich wildflower meadow, is just one of its successful projects. The 250-hectare (617 acre) site near the Thames path this year recorded its first nesting curlew.
As they come into bloom this month, meadows across the country will become pictures of romance, but their significance goes beyond beauty.
"Unimproved grasslands are the richest habitats for wildlife in England, supporting more endangered species than any other habitat," says Ellie Brodie, Senior Policy Manager for The Wildlife Trusts.
"The rare marsh fritillary butterfly depends on areas of flower-rich grassland to breed. The amazing variety of herbs, grasses and wildflowers attract pollinators - and this abundance of insects, in turn, attracts bats and declining farmland birds, such as skylarks." It is this wonderful "natural capital", their role in pollination, water quality, water storage, carbon storage and high-quality food production, which The Wildlife Trusts are calling on the Government and businesses to recognise the value of and take action. Over the next 18 months The Wildlife Trusts will be watching the Brexit negotiations closely. Many of the existing grasslands and floodplain meadows are protected under the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Matt Jackson, Head of Conservation Policy at Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust is keen to know if that protection will remain in place.
"Support through agri-environment funding for farmers, so that they get some compensation for loss of income if they restore meadows has been crucial in making it financially viable for landowners."
But unless the protection is dragged into domestic legislation, there is no guarantee that farmers will carry on with their own private restorations.
The Wildlife Trusts own only a tiny proportion of the meadowland still out there. While they do seek to buy land that they either restore or maintain as grassland (fundraising is currently happening to buy Ashes Pasture, an upland hay meadow in the Yorkshire Dales), it is something they see as a last resort. "We normally only buy sites where they are better protected by us than in general ownership," says Matt.
Far preferable, he says, would be for floodplain grasslands to be part of normal farming practice. The Trusts work to provide advice to farmers on wildlife-friendly farming methods (studies have shown that the meat of animals grazed on biodiverse pasture contains high levels of Vitamin E, and quantities of omega-3 fatty acids previously only found in oily fish) such as conservation grazing techniques. However, farmers don't get paid for the benefits we all enjoy, such as cleaner water, floodplain storage, and biodiversity. Without public funding, Matt says, many meadow sites will rely entirely on the goodwill of landowners. "We would like to see them in a position where financial pressure doesn't see them converting them to arable.
"Now is a great time to raise the issue with your local candidate. It's an opportunity to push the importance of our local environment and to get across the multi-benefit issues," he says And, Matt adds, in the coming weeks, be sure to seek out your local grassland spots.
"Nothing lifts the soul as much as going to a lovely meadow, sitting among the butterflies and looking at the wildflowers. It does something to enrich your life."