Seasonal enhancement work set for county meadows

A number of Denbighshire wildflower meadows are set to receive a local boost sourced from other county sites.

The Council’s Biodiversity and Streetscene teams have planned work to support the establishment and diversity of some of the county’s wildflower meadow sites this autumn.

Established in 2019, the Wildflower Meadow Project now includes nearly 70 acres of native wildflower habitat across the county, supporting local nature, improving biodiversity and contributing to community wellbeing.

The work has been supported by Welsh Government funding through the Local Places for Nature funding.

Enhancement work will take place at seven identified county meadows this autumn and will receive a helping hand from seeds harvested at other sites in the project.

Work has been ongoing to cut and collect the grass at the meadows during the second cut of the project season to further strip the sites of nutrients and allow further wildflower species to establish.

Cuttings have been processed at the Council’s Tree Nursery and the seeds collected from them will be sown at the meadows selected by the Biodiversity team in the project to help them become more diverse and bloom next year.

The scarification work will involve Streetscene teams raking the grass or using a scarifier to expose bare soil and create space for new wildflower seeds to germinate and establish. Benefits of doing this are to reduce grass competition, promote seed germination and encourage increased biodiversity by boosting the diversity of wildflowers.

Cllr James Elson, lead member for Environment and Transport said: “We have worked to make sure we have collected the grass cuttings off our most diverse meadows to provide a really strong ‘Denbighshire’ seed mix we can spread on the sites we have selected for enhancement. What we have is a good mix of plants that will bring variety to these sites and stronger support for local nature.

“Enhancing the meadows provides benefits for everybody, not just nature, with community benefits including improved air quality, urban heat cooling, physical and mental wellbeing and areas of mixed interest for education and play.”