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It is not mowing versus not mowing
what matters is species rich grassland
we can have lawns mowed which have flowers, insects, short grass can be a valuable habitat, ask a starling or song thrush
a mosaic of long uncut (meadow) short cut (pasture)
It is not mowing versus not mowing
what matters is species rich grassland
we can have lawns mowed which have flowers, insects, short grass can be a valuable habitat, ask a starling or song thrush
a mosaic of long uncut (meadow) short cut (pasture)
This is likely to be richest habitat mosaic, and one a community can accept as it provides the other valid community needs of recreation. If this mosaic is managed by a rotation pattern over time and cuttings are removed it will also manage a major problem of nitrogen build up
This increase of nitrogen in the soil is a bigger threat to wild flowers than cutting date, over time it increases a few competitive grasses and flower species are lost. Most grassland plants are perennial, cutting or not the plant competition is a vegetative battle ground
an increase in plant food makes a few species winners, they replace the others making a species poor grassland. This happens if grass cuttings not removed, over time cyanobacteria in soil fixes nitrogen, due to our cars and heating the atmosphere has a high level of
nitrogen oxide this is airborne plant food, throughout nature reserves we see plant communities change to poorer ones dominated by a few competitive grasses, winter annual plants, insects like grayling are being lost as small bare sandy soil areas not covered by grass due to
summer drought are now grass covered, the extra plant food giving enough vigour to grasses to overcome the limitations of the local soil. Slowly we see plant uniformity spreading, a poorer and more uniform species mix, this impacts over time insects as well.
