The Importance of Meadows
Meadows……our most diverse plant communities, providing food and homes for numerous mammals, birds and invertebrates whilst also providing a perfect habitat for our precious pollinators. These pollinators, in turn, pollinate a variety of food crops which feed us!
Sadly it has been found that 97% of wildflower meadows have been lost since the 1930s. The good news is that awareness of the importance of these habitats is increasing and, gradually, there are more areas that are being sown and areas that are being left to flourish.
What Wildlife Can I Expect to See?
Expect to see many pollinators such as bumblebees, overflies, butterflies and moths in traditional meadows. They like to feast on the nectar and pollen which, in turn, pollinates our food crops which we then eat. You can see many of these pollinators during the day, however, there are many more that visit at night.
The grasses and flowers in a meadow provide food and shelter for many species so expect to see grasshoppers, ants, beetles and bugs taking up residence. Due to there being so many insects in this habitat, you will also likely find swallows gliding effortlessly, yellow wagtails and even skylarks as they busily feast on insects. Birds like goldfinches will dance amongst the grasses merrily feasting on seed heads.
Voles, shrews and mice may also take up residence which also might just attract certain birds of prey, particularly kestrels and owls. You may also see moles, rabbits, hares, hedgehogs, bats and badgers.
I’d love to start a meadow but my garden isn’t big enough…..
No matter the size of your garden, you can easily create a mini-meadow, or leave a corner or stretch of your garden ’wild’ to encourage and to help our native wildlife. You will be surprised at the impact this has.
In fact, there was a study done by University of Sussex where university researchers recruited urban gardeners to sow a 4 square metre patch of wildflowers. Wildflowers such as Knapweeds, campions and scabious were planted and they found some staggering results the following year:
Double the number of bumblebees
Increase by over 85% of solitary bee and wasp numbers
The conclusion? ……‘mini-meadows can really help pollinators’.
If you have some meadow seeds, ensure that they are native seeds. You can learn how to create your own meadow here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07jm2t9
FUN FACT - Bird’s-Foot-Trefoil is a food producer for over 130 herbivorous insects such as leaf beetles, weevils and pollen beetles, butterflies and moths. Bird’s Foot-Trefoil is just one of the 13 meadow seed varieties embedded into our very own Latitude 50 Living Plantable Greeting Cards.