Conservationists are making green hay while the sun shines this summer in a bid to restore precious wildflower meadows in Norfolk.
Green hay cut from Roadside Nature Reserves will be spread on farmland sites and Earsham Wetland Centre in South Norfolk to recreate wildlife-rich meadows.
Wild flower meadows are one of the most vulnerable habitats in the UK, having declined by more than 95% in Norfolk since 1945 and are vulnerable to being damaged through neglect and inappropriate management. Meadows are valuable for a range of wild flowers, bees, butterflies and small mammals, as well as reptiles such as grass snake and predators such as barn owl.
The hay cutting and spreading project is a joint effort by Norfolk Wildlife Trust (NWT), Norfolk County Council who look after Roadside Nature Reserves, and Norfolk Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (Norfolk FWAG) who have worked with farmers to find suitable sites that will benefit from the seed. For the past three years, the work has been funded by the Barbara Barlow Trust under the Seeding the Future project.
‘Green hay’ is cut when there is a high proportion of the seeds in the flower heads. It has a wider variety of seeds in it than a seed mix and as it is being kept local, increases the chance of the seeds colonising. The hay includes seeds of the nationally scarce sulphur clover, restharrow and dyer’s greenweed.
Conservation Officer for Norfolk Wildlife Trust, Helen Baczkowska said: “Traditional hay meadows resplendent with colourful wild flowers, alive with bees and butterflies, were once common across Norfolk. Sadly they are no longer and today many of their associated plants, including cowslips, yellow rattle and meadow saxifrage, have become much rarer. This partnership project is redressing the balance in south Norfolk. It is not a ‘quick fix’ - creating the new meadows has taken several years and collecting seed by hand and hay is labour intensive – but we are creating new sites for threatened meadow species in less vulnerable locations.”
Henry Walker from Norfolk FWAG said: “By utilising the valuable seed source preserved in our Roadside Nature Reserves we are working to expand these rare local plant communities on to new sites. Because they have developed over such a long time, they are perfectly suited to the local soils and support our farm wildlife right through the year, so much more effectively than “off the shelf” seed mixtures. These Roadside Nature Reserves have plants in flower in any week of the year from February to October- and so are really valuable for bees and other pollinators.”
Cllr Andy Grant, Norfolk County Council Cabinet Member for Environment & Waste, said: “We’ve been working hard over many years to protect the rare plants, animals and fungi that call our 112 Roadside Nature Reserves home. This project means that these special habitats can be used to increase biodiversity elsewhere in our beautiful county and I’m very proud that we are able to play an important part in making that happen.”