Newt volunteers attended to the expansion of a wildflower meadow, namely that of Tawny Owl Meadow, one of our first and most succesful wildflower meadows at Leverhulme Park. The meadow consists of yellow rattle in the South side and a very large expanse of Red Campion on the North side.
On the north side of the meadow we have taken back the saplings and replaced the border with 120 hedgerow saplings (Dogrose, Dogwood, Hawthorn, Hazel, Crab Apple) with the expansion and felling of the saplings today, we have not only cleared space for a woodland trust tree pack to expand the hedgerow in November but also made a lovely dead hedge from the felled trees. The dead timber acts as a simulated fallen tree helping to support a range of insects, mosses, fungi and lichen.
While the habitat pile (also known as a dead hedge) was being constructed and the expanse of the meadow was being created, we took the time to harvest branches and timber trunks for an upcoming event (grant funding needed) which we'll let the public know more about in the coming weeks. We finished the day's task by sowing handfuls of wildflower seeds that consisted of cornflower, poppy and morning glory among the now open and soil exposed Yellow Rattle patches. The hope is that even this late in the year, with the ground open by the Yellow Rattle parasitizing the grass, there is enough light to allow sown wildflower seeds to flourish among them.
As we left the day's task, here you can see a before and after shot of the expanded area. Thank you for reading the blog and we hope in six weeks time people will be enjoying the germinated seeds (providing it rains soon!).