Flower-rich hay meadows, once a familiar sight in the countryside are becoming rarer and rarer.have become all too rare. Over 97% of meadows have been lost since the Second World War due to intensified withfarming methods, with meadows ploughed for crops, improved for pasture or harvested for silage.

Hay meadows are a form of traditional agriculture with grazing animals being excluded from the fields during the growing months of May to July. The grass isthen cutin in mid to late July and stored as hay to be used for feeding cattle and sheep during the winter months.

High Borrowdale Hay Meadow –  a Friends of the Lake District property

This type of management encourages a diverse range of plants to develop over the years and is particularly good for the development of wildflowers. Allowing the grasses and wildflowers to set seed ensures more survive to reseed next year. Removing the cut hay creates a nutrient poor soil, which is also good for wild flowers. In nutrient rich land a few dominant plants such as competitive grasses, nettles and thistles take over. These species rich meadows are dependant on the continued use of traditional agricultural practices for their survival.

The importance of hay meadows has become more widely recognised. Farmers are encouraged to manage land as meadows by Countryside Stewardship scheme payments in certain parts of the country and through projects such as the Cumbria, North Pennines and Yorkshire Dales Hay-Day and Hay Time projects. These have been set up to raise awareness of the value of hay meadows, encourage their restoration and help land managers to manage meadows appropriately.  Existing meadows have often become isolated in the landscape and need help through creation of new meadows where possible next to existing fields as well as linking wildlife corridors through hedges, ditches and roadside verges.

High Borrowdale in early July