Pleck Meadow gets its 2nd annual trim!
On Monday 11th, September 2023, Pleck Meadow at Peel Park and the Coppice LNR had its 2nd annual cut!
Annual cut & rakes are an important part of wildflower meadow management as it reduce nutrients in the soil which overtime will ensure that vigourous grasses and invasive species do not overrun an area. A wider variety of short and slow-growing plants can thrive as a result, increasing biodiversity in the meadow as more kinds of plants means more kinds of pollinators!
In a natural ecosystem, plants are removed by herbivores which can spread the nutrients across a landscape as they migrate, creating a range of different habitats including areas of nutrient poor soil that can support wildflowers. In the UK, a majority of our native large herbivores are gone and the ones remaining have fragmented habitats which disrupts their migration. This means that the natural spread of nutrients can not occur, resulting in an accumulation of plant growth in an area that builds up over time and creating an area of high nutrient soil which allows plants like Creeping Thistle, Creeping Buttercup, docks, and Stinging Nettle to dominate.
Habitats like this can still be important for wildlife (Stinging Nettles act as the food plant for Comma, Peacock, Red Admiral and Small Tortoiseshell butterflies,) but since 98% of wildflower meadows in the UK have disappeared in the last century, it's vital we transform areas of high nutrient density into to spaces for a vast array of native wildflowers & pollinators to thrive.
So with a severe lack of grazing animals on hand, we settled with a tractor as the next best thing! The compact tractor we got was able to cut and remove a large area of the meadow over the course of a day. We have left areas of longer vegetation around the meadow to give small mammals and invertebrates areas to shelter over winter as well as provide cover for birds and deer.
Stay tuned for updates on the meadow as PROSPECTS will be sowing wildflower seeds and planting wildflower plugs to encourage a wider diversity of plants to spread. The goal is to perform an annual cut in 2024 as well.
If you would like to get involved in meadow management on Peel Park & the Coppice LNR, then please email robert.gabryszak@prospectsfoundation.org.uk or call 01254 230348.
A huge thank you to the Lancashire Wildlife Trust, LEF, and Windfall Fund for making this project possible.
