The Meadow Makers' Network Forum

Hi
I have 30 acres that used to be heavily grazed by sheep that we have just left since we bought them 2.5 years ago.

The first year the fields were very poor in terms of species diversity, but the second and third have been amazing with new species arriving each year.

One area of our fields in particular would hit the 15 species a metre indicator of species diversity and other areas are just seeming to come back on their own. But other areas are definitely slower to move on.

This year we're going to start mowing and bring in a management plan as we know if we leave it too much longer we're going to grow woodland - we can already see tree seedlings popping up.

so my question is will it continue adding more species and more diversity on its own if we just get the rye grass and other strong grasses under control? is this a standard thing that happens or is it not reasonable to expect more than just the wet places no one bothered with to do this without reseeding and just rely on the seed bank to bring things back.

i've got this desire to see it recover by itself. this is borne of looking in areas where we were heavily improved that now have large mats of birds foot trefoil that have pushed back against the invaders. over sowing with yellow rattle will be essential in certain areas as not one bit of it has just spontaneously appeared and we have some strong grass.

i've never really seen this talked about and i'm happy for it to take far longer than it would to bring in other meadow's seed but i love the way things are just appearing and wonder how long it could just work like that. I don't really know how long seed can exist in the soil waiting for an opportunity.

any insight on seed banks gratefully received.

Fascinating subject,and I too would love to know more about seed banks. A little bit of reading that I did about it last year showed up great variety in the time seeds will persist, and there are 'transient' and 'persistent' species. Moth Mullein, common Mullein and Mallow for example, can still be germinated after 100 years in ( or on?) the soil. Others, like Corncockle do not persist. They are programmed to germinate at the next autumnal rains , and that's that. Inbetween, I guess, is every kind of variation. The longest recorded viable seed was, I believe about 1,600 years old.

I know its not always useful to speak about personal experience, as everyone's land is different and there are many factors to consider...but, I have left our land completely to its own devices, I've never sown any seed, and its becoming much more diverse every year on its own. Like you, I find new species every year, and its part of the excitement of it. I don't have any yellow rattle here to speak of.
Farmers did used to fertilise their hay fields in the past I believe, with manure, and so maybe if you're just cutting and removing ( for hay?) but not fertilising or grazing, you may find that the fertility keeps dropping and the nature of the field changes slowly but surely.

Thanks for your reply Jane - I do think other people's experience is hugely useful and indeed interesting so thank you for including it.

The joy of finding something new you had no part in is just the best thing ever. picking through the fields wondering what things are is one of my favourite hobbies and a lovely way to unwind from a stressful and rather frustrating day job!

I found relatively small clumps of devil's bit scabious last year. This document (even if you ignore the very technical bits that I'm not biologically designed to understand) has a really good explanation how my suggested methodology will not return the farm to the plants here before the rye grass was chucked about. https://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/file/108002

Thanks again for your reply. Interesting that others are wondering about doing it the same way.

"The good news is that if you already have five or more species growing on your meadows site, the best thing you can do is to resist reaching for a seed packet and instead simply reinstate annual meadow maintenance by way of grazing, hay cutting or mowing. This will create the right conditions for wild flowers to colonise your site over time and thereby conserve the distinctive character of your local wild flora."

From Plantlife's meadows hub:
https://meadows.plantlife.org.uk/making ... ow-making/
:

Thanks for the report on Devils Bit Scabious, and, like you, I feel like, (even though I love science), I may not be designed to process all of it! And have my doubts as to my ability to correctly interpret these kinds of studies. I came away from it thinking that DBScabious couldn't be propagated from seed in the soil....something that's clearly untrue, and not what they were saying presumably....although maybe they were saying that it is a seed that doesn't live for long in the soil seed bank? How did you interpret it?

Anyhow, something I did take from the study, is that the 'soil seed bank' isn't a 'fix all''...its not a be all and end all solution in all cases, but rather, part of a complex variety of ways that plants and seeds survive and spread.
Maybe one of the nice things it can add to the mix, is the element of surprise and the unexpected....the sudden reappearance, after decades of 'abscence' of a plant. Something which may be very special to a particular place...maybe even sometimes a rare local variety....which can suddenly germinate after many many years of dormancy.
I had an 'accidental' experiment with it, in that we had a tarpaulin with sand on it, outside on the grass for about 18 months. When we'd finished with it and removed it, the soil underneath was completely bare. Very quickly it sprang back into life and was covered with plants and flowers, (some of which weren't growing in the surrounding grass...and may have been dormant seed in the soil).
But, of course they could also have arrived by other means, windborne, in animal droppings or on their fur or feathers, on humans via boots etc etc.
I'm very glad to accept that seeds and plants can find their own way around the place without our help!

But...back to the Devils Bit Scabious that you have. Did they flower last year?
I have 3 patches that are spreading quite happily year on year...presumably from their own seed....but, as it mentioned in the study, it seems to drop fairly close to the parent plant. My Devils bit hasn't spread all over the place, but is growing outward from the original clumps. One of the patches is now quite big..about 50m x 15m.
I'll include some photos although I never can manage to get a sense of scale in photos, I always think it looks much less lovely than in real life. ....and also a photo of the sward in winter.