Why the long grass? Meadow creation in cities.

What is a meadow? 

Meadows used to be a common sight across the UK, but sadly since the 1930s over 97% of wildflower meadows have been lost. Thankfully organisations, communities and councils across the UK are working hard to reverse this trend, and the appetite for their creation is growing. 

Meadows can come in all shapes and sizes from the smallest gardens to fields or community parks and there are different types too! Lowland neutral meadows, floodplain meadows, upland hay meadows and more! 

Why are meadows important? 

Meadows are incredibly important for our native wildlife: 

• Over 700 species of wild plants grow in grassy meadows, pastures and fields.  

• A typical meadow can be home to 570 flowers per square metre on a single day in early summer, that’s nine million flowers in an average three-acre meadow.  

• At peak nectar flow at the beginning of August, the flowers in a three-acre meadow can produce nearly 6kg of nectar sugar per day, enough to feed over half a million bees 

• The plants in a typical meadow can support nearly 1,400 species of invertebrates, that’s an army of bugs, beetles, flies, spiders, grasshoppers, crickets, butterflies and moths. 

And that’s not all…. The insects that benefit from meadows are also vitally important sources of food for our much-loved birds, bats and other animals. Meadows also provide habitat and shelter for small mammals.  

Meadows are also incredibly important for people- they help store carbon and provide wellbeing benefits. Looking at a flower like oxeye daisy for just six seconds has been shown to lower your blood pressure.