Restoring Magnificent Meadows

The Different Techniques Used Across the Project

Common spotted-orchid in a field of hawkweed © Cath Shellswell

By Cath ShellswellPlantlife

What is the project aiming to achieve for grasslands?

Predicted (ha) Achieved (ha)

Maintain extent 1165.11 1275.18

Restore 1968 1199.23

Expand 77.3 88.75

Total 3210.41 2563.16

Grassland maintenance, restoration and expansion headline figures

Figures correct Jan 2017

Maintenance is maintain current extent, i.e. though management such as grazing, mechanical management like harrowing etc.

Restoration is management to improve quality towards priority habitat status. This may be through controlling species such as bracken or scrub or through seed addition where propagules are required to enhance the sward.

Expansion is habitat creation in its most basic form i.e. from scratch or very low grade habitat (very nearly equivalent to the use of the term ‘creation’ which is often used in the context of creating a lowland grassland from arable land (arable reversion). This often involves seed addition).

Oxeye daisy © Cath Shellswell

Harebell © Cath Shellswell

Pyramidal orchid © Cath Shellswell

Maintain extent – grassland management

Scrub management © Eleanor Reast

Livestock grazing© Vicky squire

Monitoring indicator species© Medway Valley Countryside Partnership

Bracken control© Vicky Squire

Maintain extent – rush management • Expanded the herd from 6 to 33 Konik ponies and their movements around the reserve are being monitored using GPS collars

Konik ponies © Scotland RSPB

Maintain extent – rush management • Expanded the herd from 6 to 33 Konik ponies and their movements around the reserve are being monitored using GPS collars

• Monitoring height and density of rushes and forb richness:- rush density July 2014: ‘grazed & mown’ < ‘grazed’ < ‘mown’ = ‘unmanaged’

• Numbers of lesser butterfly orchids increased from 131 in 2014 to 204 in 2015.

Konik ponies © Scotland RSPB

• In Fermanagh over 100ha of sp-rich grassland has been identified

Extent of purple moor-grass and rush pasture . Field parcels included in the grassland inventory in blue and field parcels identified by Ulster Wildlife as part of the Save Our Magnificent Meadows project in yellow. The grassland inventory data is used courtesy of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency © Crown copyright and database right 2014 EMOU 206.2, and the data from the Save Our Magnificent Meadows project is used courtesy of Ulster Wildlife Trust © Ulster Wildlife Trust 2016. Satellite Image © DigitalGlobe 2016 and © Google.

Maintain extent – provision of advice

Grassland restoration –calaminarian grassland

Mini-digger scraping back soil © Naomi Waite | Northumberland Wildlife Trust

• Scrapes were created using a mini-digger scraping off topsoil to a depth of 5-50cm.

• Williamston SSSI:• 7 plug plants / sq m transplanted inc. mountain pansy Viola lutea, alpine pennycress Noccaeacae rulescens and spring sandwort Minuartia verna.

• Burnfoot Shingles SSSI:• No plug plants used• One year on... low re-growth of non-calaminarian species, and alpine pennycress and spring sandwort were found in the scrapes

Grassland restoration –seed inoculation and plug planting

• Seed from 21 wildflowers has been collected from neighbouring sites to enhance the arable reversion that has been undertaken at Winterbourne Downs, inc:

• devil’s-bit scabious • dropwort • saw-wort • kidney vetch• common-rockrose • wild thyme • autumn gentian • yellow-wort • common-spotted orchid • fragrant orchid • pyramidal orchid

3500 plug plants have been transplanted and seed has been sown into shallow scrapes created by volunteers

Orchids were recorded in 4 fields for the first time in 2015

Collecting seed © Patrick Cashman | RSPB

Grassland restoration – earth mounds for invertebrates and reptiles

Red-tailed bumblebee Bombus lapidarius © Marc Taylor

• 14 mounds were created around a flat meadow at Blakehill Farm in Wiltshire in autumn 2014.

• Monitoring in the summer of 2014 and 2015 found no conclusive evidence that invertebrates were burrowing into the mounds

• But, as the mounds vegetated quickly, invertebrates, particularly hoverflies and bees were foraging on the mounds

Grassland expansion- Brush-harvested seed

Seed harvester© Eleanor Reast

Grassland expansion – monitoring indicator species• Restored a 2ha grassland by changing the management regime to hay-making in 2014 and spreading fresh brush-harvested seed in 2015

Riverside Meadow in 2013 © Victoria Squire

Riverside Meadow in 2016 © Victoria Squire

Grassland expansion – monitoring indicator species

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The donor site had an average of 7 indicator species per quadrat

Tightly sheep grazed

Meadow management

Meadow management and re-seeding

Meadow management and re-seeding

• Restored a 2ha grassland by changing the management regime to hay-making in 2014 and spreading fresh brush-harvested seed in 2015

• The number of positive indicator species has increased

• Yellow rattle is now present from the donor site, and common cat’s-ear, meadow buttercup, self-heal and black knapweed have all increased in frequency

Sowing seed© Derek Whitehead

Plug planting© Somerset Wildlife Trust

Marking out a path© Giles Knight

Transplanting sp-rich turf© Giles Knight

Grassland expansion – mini-meadows

www.magnificentmeadows.org.uk

Thank you for listening

Any questions please contact cath.shellswell@plantlife.org.uk

Hay meadow © Cath Shellswell