Craven College conservation management lecturer Gillian Thom says the long-term conservation of hay meadows is essential.

AT this time of year there is a wealth of wildlife to enjoy, but my priority in early July is always a visit to a species rich hay meadow as there is only a short window before they are cut. In sharp contrast to the familiar bright green fields with the occasional buttercup, hay meadows are a riot of different textures and colours. On closer inspection you become aware of the individual beauty of orchids, the variety of delicate grasses and multitude of butterflies, all of which is accompanied by the insistent sound of grasshoppers and the gentle buzzing of bees.

Nationally hay meadows are in decline, according to a survey carried out in the 1980s, over 97 per cent of flower rich grasslands have been lost since 1930 and those that remain are decreasing in wildlife value. Northern England was once covered in species rich upland flower meadows and even here it is estimated that only a 1000 ha remain.

When a meadow is lost it is not just the flowers that disappear but the hundreds of insects including many species of butterfly and bee that rely on them and even the bats that feed on the insects. Fortunately in this area we have several beautiful meadows that have been protected including the meadows at Yockenthwaite, Colt Park (Ingleborough) and the former Grassington Hospital.

The main reason for decline is changes in farming practice, seeding fields with rye grass, adding fertiliser and producing silage means that grassland becomes more productive and less reliant on the weather allowing farmers to remain profitable. Meadows although beautiful cannot sustain a modern herd. However, the value of meadows in terms of tourism, heritage and as supporters of pollinators and sources of biodiversity has been recognised.

Many meadows have been designated to protect them; farm payments currently support farmers and there are many national projects that aim to restore meadows. The Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust has been restoring meadows since 2006 and has improved over 280 ha of meadow. This is mainly achieved through working with farmers to select donor sites; the seeds are then collected and spread on identified recipient sites. Initially work was project funded through their Hay time project but more recently work has relied on donations through the Hay time appeal.

Creating Wildlife Super Highways is another exciting project run by the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust. This aims to create meadows and wildlife patches that will allow plants and pollinators to move across the Yorkshire Dales, and it links with a national project by Buglife that aims to create B-Lines (a series of ‘insect pathways’ that consist of a series of wildflower-rich habitat stepping stones). As a part of this the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust is looking for community groups to create 10 “flagship” community meadows and on a smaller scale home and landowners to create wildlife patches. All of these will then contribute to the Super Highways.

All of this is very easy to write but in practice meadow creation and restoration is not as simple as sowing a wildflower mix and leaving nature to get on with it. A species rich meadow can support up to 120 wildflower species and there are many subtle variations depending upon differences in cutting dates, geology, soil and moisture. Even if the plants are present their seeds quickly lose viability and are often slow to spread naturally.

In addition many fields are too fertile which allows more vigorous weeds and grasses to out-compete the meadow species. Even the plants that are present can affect others, for example the presence of yellow rattle is often essential to the initial stages of restoration as it is semi-parasitic and feeds on grass reducing its vigour and allowing the wildflowers to grow. It is this habit that meant it was loathed by farmers as it could reduce hay yields by up to 50 per cent.

The techniques used to restore hay meadows are constantly evolving and form a fascinating example of how scientific research and practical work on the ground can work hand in hand. This year my degree students have not only planned the restoration of meadows but have based their techniques on the results of the scientific data collected from long term research plots at Colt Park on the Ingleborough National Nature Reserve and data from the Yorkshire Dales Hay Time project.

With the current uncertainty over future conservation funding these long-term studies and the links between researchers and practitioners are essential to ensure that the most effective restoration techniques are used so that we and our children can continue to enjoy species rich meadows.