"No Mow May"
In April, the following comments were posted on the Cub's News page:-
"The Caravan and Motorhome Club is excited to announce that we will be taking part in “No Mow May” for the second year running on our network of Club campsites. No Mow May is Plantlife’s annual campaign which encourages not only people but businesses as well to not to mow during the month of May to help provide spaces for nature to thrive by letting grass and wildflowers grow.
Sadly, since the 1970’s nearly 97% of wildflower meadows have been lost, and that means a vital loss of food for our natural pollinators like bees and butterflies which are also at risk of disappearing. We’re hoping that these efforts will help support the amazing work that Plantlife are doing on a daily basis"
I've read some comments on the Club Together Discussions pages which feature a number of grumbles about the fact that some pitches look untidy and perhaps grass between pitches should have been cut. Whilst I support the general policy of supporting wildlife and wildflowers, my simple question is "What happens to the food supplies, the bees, butterflies and other pollinators once the long grass has been cut and we return to "normal" cuttings in future months?"
Comments
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Many creatures, including insects, have various stages of development. These stages correspond to the cycle of the seasons and nature with it. Spring and early summer is the flowering season for most wild flora. Autumn the fruiting season. Birds like the tits change their diet to correspond with these cycles and food supplies. They eat seeds when seeds are only available and caterpillars when they are abundant. Those caterpillars only hatch from dormant eggs when the leaves of trees and plants first burst out. Insects, of which caterpillars are a stage, do similar. Insects often have more complex stages, some adults only living a few days and never feed as adults. Sometimes what we see as airborne insects, like dragonflies, live as aquatic creatures for more than 90% of their lives.
No mow May corresponds with that short stage of flowering when insects need nectar and pollen. Think of bees, they use this short time to build up stocks of honey to feed the colony during times when the nectar isn’t there. Fascinating but a very good reason for helping wildlife and we depend on those bees more than many realise. Wildlife has worked out these cycles, we seem just to mess them up. We should be doing more to assist but I’ve been very pleasantly surprised in my spring travels by the work done by many site staff in meeting the challenges and helping nature, long ‘May’ it continue.1 -
Here where we have beef and sheep in the main, they still graze the fields during lambing until late April before returning to the uplands. The grass grows through May and most of June before cutting for Hay/silage. We have good areas of flower meadows and have had for a long time. Just an involuntary aside to wildlife. Where farming is more intensive, ie dairy, they need more than one crop of silage to see through the winter with the first cut usually in early May. Thats life and business as we all want cheap milk and food. Throughout the country there is a balance.
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This is what No Mow May can look like. A few years back they planted poppies here and this year native wild flowers in an effort to sell NMM and the reasoning behind it and doesn’t it look magnificent. I took this photo a few days back and there were bees and insects abundant in the heart of the city something a Beefeater was saying had not been the case in previous years. It’s not about a total abstinence of mowing, it’s about finding increasing areas where it can be done. In fact as Fish describes certain mowing regimes promote and lengthen the flowering time which is advantageous to plants and animals including us but it’s about knowing how and when. It’s that constant mowing to almost bowling green height that’s particularly damaging. Worst still the plastic artificial stuff!
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What the club is doing is great. There are vast areas of both urban and rural areas that could do the same. Your local authorities with their mantra of mow everything is one of the worse. What the club is doing is regenerating ( not rewilding) and has no adverse effect on anyone. Most proper farmers like me see us as custodians of the land for a generation and look to make it better for the next lot. May not be the same for the Insurance Companies, City money owners, Foreign nationals greenwashing funds, who have no empathy just profit chasing. Add in the ever changing Government directives and you can see how difficult it is to have any long term plan.
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Yes, you are right, there is a lot more all authorities can do. But I’m not sure you know which is mine though. Mine, a rural one, have changed greatly over the last few years. Now cutting only a narrow swath along the roadside itself cutting much longer than in the past and then leaving the rest to nature. However, even wildflower meadows need management and they rightly cut all back at the end of the season once the growing season is over and the seeds have set. They do cut junctions a little tighter mind which is helpful for us drivers. At last fish you do seem to be getting the message about the difference between rewilding and regeneration. The latter is pretty much thought of as a rebrand mind by the few who deliberately tarnished the original concept although regenerative practices have evolved in response and should continue to do so as the ensuing data and science helps. But No Mow May alone is neither rewilding or regeneration although it can play a part in the ‘naturalising’ process. More of the same please from all of us, we can do our little bit, it is happening thankfully and mind sets are changing for the better.
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This is what my local authority have been doing, since 2013. It adds tremendous colour all around the area, makes a boring local journey much more enjoyable, and saves a lot of money as the verges have far fewer mows. So successful, other local authorities are adopting the idea, and providing similar displays elsewhere. Verges are full of birds when seeds drop as well, plenty for them, plenty for next year’s display.
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How many cuts per year do farmers do? Many round here cut as many times as they can to get the winter fodder. Plenty of grass, and a few herbs/ buttercups, but little else gets chance to grow and self seed, unless it’s a specific area left alone. Some do plant borders are a patch to encourage birds, etc….. but no where near enough.
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Devon, Cornwall, Pembrokshire three times most years. Farming is a for profit business like all other enterprises and every blade of grass counts. Thats life. And we all want cheap food in ever increasing amount as the population keeps growing. Here in sheep country its usually one big cut, a mix of hay and silage., and if weather good at end Sept/Oct a small regrowth then usually into big bales.
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Fish, haven’t we already stated, ‘where possible and when possible’, many times in several posts on similar issues. You seem to be adamantly against any ideas or are you just playing at being devil’s advocate? It’s about identifying those places it can be done and then doing something about it.
You’ve already stated this so I’ll go with that. Don’t forget I’m a country lad born and bred so I know how corporate farming goes and I know that there are some really keyed in farmers who are doing an excellent job working with nature and they are increasing in number. There are so many examples out there to research and back this up.Anyway back to No Mow May, that has nothing to do with Sitka Spruce, connected grants or profit chasing in my book, it’s about becoming a better custodian of our natural world. Also without those insects which are now in serious decline traditional farming practices may be forced to change for the worse. More is necessary.
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I first saw this practise in Denmark a decade or more ago. Looked fabulous and really beneficial in many respects. It’s happening more in the UK these days, I even saw a traffic circle recently with a fabulous display courtesy of sponsorship from a Building Supplies business. Several other public places were sponsored by others. Apparently this has been happening for several years. More needed TTDA.🐝.
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Lots of urban areas in South Yorks have adopted it now, and local schools are coming on board with wildflower areas outside school grounds👍
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The no mow bit in our garden is doing well, just different natural grasses, left over from when this bit of land was a dairy walk for a farm which was sold off 30 years ago. Just over the hedge we own a right of way and all the wild flowers were cut down by council mowers recently although they did carefully go round one primrose plant! (Bit of an argument over that one as we and other owners usually cut our own paths and a lot more carefully too. )Over the hedge from that a 20 acre maize field has been sprayed for "weeds" etc. Adjoining that a very large grass field has been cut for silage, then manured by a dairy herd and if we get some rain another cut will be due. The cows didn't have much grazing after the silage cut so they headed for all the lush borders left as part of the schemes to encourage "nature." We did get to enjoy the Cow Parsley etc for a short while. The Swallows will have to travell a bit further for food, there are no long grass meadows to skim over for insects.
So yes I'm all for No Mow May it might give something a chance to survive however briefly and every inch counts.
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I really do not think anyone has criticised you for your efforts, ever, Fish, just pointed out alternative practises which may be more appropriate, particularly in other settings. Nobody has mentioned the points you repeatedly make as being anything other than nature damaging to my knowledge. However the ever so repetitive mantras quickly follow any attempt at doing exactly what you suggest, that is lauding the excellent work being done by others. Is this because those efforts just doesn’t fit your world or do you want any such nature based thread shut down because it dares to mention things you have an aversion to?
Anyway, back to NMM. Here is some really helpful advice from the Royal Horticultural Society.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/lawns/wildflower-meadow-maintenance
You never know, this might just tempt even more folk to get involved. 👍
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My sister and I have seeded a wildflower area in Mum’s garden. Only a small area, but going to be interesting to see how it does. We intend scatterings lot more seeds throughout the year.I am having to water it though, we haven’t had any rain for the last four weeks, and nothing forecast except lots of sunshine. Ground is powder dry.
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Went to Plas Newydd today, run by NT, and was pleasantly surprised by the cricket pitch being turned into a wildflower meadow.
The colours were a visual delight with plenty of Pyramid Orchids alongside Red Clover, Eyebright, Buttercups and Yellow Rattle along with the usual Cornflowers and Daisies.
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"No Mow May" should become the norm year-round in lots of places.
Our local council (Fife, Scotland) have introduced the policy in specific areas of some of our local parks. The result is that some of the featureless lawns are now looking like the meadows of 100 years ago. Beautiful. This hasn't happened by chance, though. The council has given Mother Nature a helping hand by sowing "wild" flower seeds and managing the areas in a sympathetic manner. And that's an important point. Nature cannot restore 100 years of cultivation all on her own. A little human help can ADD to the rewilding.
A case in point is our seasonal site up here in Clachan, Scotland. Whilst the lawned areas are tended to and mown by the wardens, there are a number of wild areas set-aside for nature.
In previous years these wild areas have been managed at the start of the season by cutting back the ferns and bracken that would otherwise choke the area of light, nutrients and water. This has allowed the local wild flowers to bloom, encouraging bees, butterflies and other insects into the area. With a little gentle management, these "wild" areas have been a haven of biodiversity in previous seasons.
This year, the new wardens have chosen (or been asked by the C&MC) not to manage these areas at all. The result is that these areas are completely choked with ferns and bracken. There's NO wild flowers, NO butterflies, NO bees. There are some new wildlife though... TICKS. Scottish bracken is a breeding ground for ticks (and adders).
Last year we removed 3 ticks from our dog in the whole season. This year there have been 5 incidences in 6 days. Not only on dogs but on humans, too. (With one tick INSIDE the caravan).
Just a little anecdote to say that management-free isn't always a good thing. Sometimes Mother Nature appreciates a little knowledgable help. :-)
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The very dry weather of the last 4 weeks saw grass growth virtually stop. Only now starting to cut the fields here. Not an intentional "No mow" just a quirk of nature. Yes councils and civic organisation can do their bit and seem to be doing so.
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Contrary to the understanding of a few, No Mow May is not about a total lack of stewardship or management of the land, quite the contrary. With proper thought and action restorative practices can enrich the habitats we have so badly effected. To leave that almost monoculture grass swards completely alone will not be sufficient to help recovery, to go from that very regular mowing to within an inch of death to absolute abstinence will just allow those big bad bullies plants like docks, ferns, bracken and the like to take over. Thankfully several councils around us have been carefully and gently over seeding with enrichment species and the mowing regime has been adjusted to aid the return to rich and diverse meadow type environments. It’s amazing what a bit of common sense, knowledge and action can do to assist that natural recovery.
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Out at NT Barrington Court today where hay has been made from the unmown areas. Managing the land in a productive way prevents tangled and clogged undergrowth etc.
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