Seasonal maintenance starts for meadows
Cut and collect grass maintenance work has started across county wildflower meadows this month.
Denbighshire County Council’s Biodiversity team and Streetscene operatives are working together to organise the cutting of sites to help maintain and support the meadows.
Established in 2019, the Council’s Wildflower Meadow Project is designed to bring back native wildflower habitats to help and protect local nature, by creating connected green urban spaces, as well as to provide spaces for community wellbeing and leisure across the county.
It has also been funded by Welsh Government, through the Local Nature Partnerships Cymru ENRaW project.
Last year nearly 300 different wildflower species were recorded across these sites and a total of 5,269 individual wildflowers were logged overall, far outnumbering species found on more regularly mown grassland.
With the flowering season coming to an end, especially due to the dry weather this Spring and Summer, staff will visit meadows with specialist mowing equipment to carry out the seasonal cut and collect work.
You may notice some of our wildflower meadows are being cut earlier than usual. This is part of this year’s maintenance plan where some sites, that need a little extra help to establish, will receive an early cut and collect once the wildflowers have gone to seed. Native wildflowers thrive on poor-quality soils, so all the cuttings are taken off the meadows to reduce the nutrients in the ground enabling the native wildflowers to grow stronger and set seed for the next season.
The remaining sites will receive the usual end of season cut and collect throughout August and September, after which further enhancement work for some sites is planned.
Cllr Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport and Biodiversity Champion, said: “We are starting the cut and collect work now as many flowers have already seeded and this will help us maintain and improve the habitats for next year. Our Biodiversity Team has already started work to collect seeds from the meadows for producing seedlings at our tree nursery to be plant back into the meadows.
“I would like to thank those who have supported the project this year which is providing a vital boost for our local pollinators and other wildlife. This work is important in bringing this habitat back to not only support nature but our wellbeing as well after losing nearly 97 percent of meadows in the last 100 years.
As we see more wildflowers return to areas they will help increase diversity and colour for communities to enjoy and give stronger support for the pollinators at risk who play a vital role in putting food on our own tables.
He added: “Our county wildflower meadows are for the equal wellbeing of residents and wildlife to both enjoy now, and most importantly, for our future generations in the shape of our younger Denbighshire residents.”