Scything the Wildflower Patch

It was time to revive the wildflower patch in the Nature Area. It hadn’t been done for about 5 years. In the past, the entire patch would have been cut back by machines in one go and then reseeded to promote a greater variety of British Native flowering species and minimise the growth of taller grasses. This time we were going carry out the process manually, cutting a smaller section of the area at a time, to give a better chance of survival to the wildlife hiding within the vegetation.

Chris Riley of Pratensis Countryside Services arrived promptly in his red van on a thankfully dry day in October. He had agreed to lend us a hand by carrying out the actual cut with a scythe while our volunteer helpers raked the cuttings (arisings) into heaps. The rows of raked cuttings were allowed to rest in situ for about a week so that any mobile creatures could escape to safer territories.