MEADOW CREATION THROUGH CHANGED MANAGEMENT

Management of established

meadows

Dallas Seawright

Or, how do we go from this

To this?

MEADOW CREATION THROUGH CHANGED MANAGEMENT

MEADOW CREATION THROUGH CHANGED MANAGEMENT

What’s the starting point: What have you got?

How do you

know?

Acid Neutral Calc.

What are your options ?

1 SURVEY!

2 EVALUATE !

What are you starting with?

c. Rank/ Degraded

b. Amenity

d. Something stunning

a. Bare earth

MEADOW CREATION THROUGH CHANGED MANAGEMENT

• KEY CONCEPTS FOR GRASSLAND MANAGERS

• What grows and lives there?

• SURVEY • How important is it?

• EVALUATION • Why is it like that?

• FIND OUT ABOUT PAST MANAGEMENT

• How should it be managed? • What do you want it to look like? • RESEARCH MANAGEMENT

REQUIREMENTS

Survey levels • Level 1

– A simple survey, rapid, broad-brush picture of habitats across the landscape

• Level 2 – Details added to a Phase 1, or a detailed methodology

such as NVC; often called Phase 2

• Level 3 – Repeated surveys over time, or other complex

methodologies 5/15

MEADOW CREATION THROUGH CHANGED MANAGEMENT

MEADOW CREATION THROUGH CHANGED MANAGEMENT

•Size (in terms of viability) •Diversity •naturalness (rank/degraded) •rarity (in Scotland/in Britain? SPP/communities) •fragility (susceptibility to change/damage-external/internal) •typically (good/bad example of site type) •recorded history (mown? Grazed? Stock used?) •position in ecological unit (surrounding countryside and inferences for site) •potential value (how good can it get?) •intrinsic appeal (esoteric value)

3 Why is it like that?

2 EVALUATE ! what does your information mean?

MEADOW CREATION THROUGH CHANGED MANAGEMENT

3 Why is it like that?

Mown every week

Over/under grazed

Research management options

Decide what it should be

What’s the past management ?

Everything Right!

With what?

Decide what to do

MEADOW CREATION THROUGH CHANGED MANAGEMENT

Now decide what to do:

Are you going to: • MOW, GRAZE (with what?) ENHANCE • Set objectives: These should be detailed i.e. what, where, when, why, how

These should be SMART: – Specific – Measurable – Achievable – Relevant – Timed

• And include how you are going to monitor

MEADOW CREATION THROUGH CHANGED MANAGEMENT

ECOLOGICAL FACTORS

e.g. flora, fauna, communities

CONSTRAINTS

Physical features Available stock

Publicity

RESOURCES

Livestock Machinery

Skills

Conservation objectives Management

options

Monitoring

Grassland management

decision

MEADOW CREATION THROUGH CHANGED MANAGEMENT

a. Bare earth

Sowing new grasslands •Lots of preparation required •Weeds can be a major problem •Soil nutrients must be low, i.e. agricultural topsoil may be unsuitable, may have to strip back to subsoil •Lots of aftercare may be needed - mowing and removal of cuttings • May be expensive (General purpose meadow mix, sown @ 40kg/ha and @£300 / 10 kg = £1200/ha) •You can get what you want •Local provenance, special mixes, cornfield mix added for early colour, non-natives (for some urban sites)

MEADOW CREATION THROUGH CHANGED MANAGEMENT

Sowing into existing grasslands • Needs scarified sward • Rather hit and miss • Potential high failure rate (up to 70% failure) •Can be time consuming • Can be targeted (use slot seeders) • Cheaper than plant plugs?) Putting plant plugs into an existing sward •Time consuming •Greater success rate than sowing into existing sward •Expensive £18 for tray of 40 plugs, poss. Up to 40 trays/ha •Can be targeted more effectively within the sward •Can be more cost effective

b. Amenity

MEADOW CREATION THROUGH CHANGED MANAGEMENT

• What plants are there and what strategies can we

see • Competitors • Stress tolerators • Ruderals

• Can we predict what the site is likely to settle into? • Use NVC predicatively

• Alter timings of cut • (assuming site is only mildly rank)

• What are the first steps we need to take? • Flail cut if particularly rough • Cut and remove arisings several times to knock back rank

growth • Graze with appropriate breeds e.g. Highland Cattle

• What’s missing and can we get it there? • Plant plugs, slot seeding, green hay

c. Rank/ Degraded

What makes it special? • Keep doing whatever it is that makes it special.

• 1) Grasslands are complex ecosystems • 2) Grasslands are dynamic successional habitats

– If left alone they will change through the process of succession to scrub and ultimately woodland

• They are plagio-climax habitats • In the UK virtually all our grasslands are semi-natural

habitats • Always remove arisings

MEADOW CREATION THROUGH CHANGED MANAGEMENT

d. Something stunning

MANAGEMENT OF ESTABLISHED MEADOWS

• Selection should be made according to the current and/or desired condition of the grassland

Mowing: • Meadows • Amenity areas • Can be annual, seasonal or irregular • Is catastrophic • Differing regimes will bring about changes

in vegetation, structure and sward density regardless of the community type.

MANAGEMENT OF ESTABLISHED MEADOWS

Grazing: • Pastures • Aftermath grazing on meadows • Selective • Timing will be influenced by climate,

season, food availability on this and other sites

• Impact on the grassland will vary according to;

• stocking density, species, breed length of time that the stock are on the site

MANAGEMENT OF ESTABLISHED MEADOWS Dealing With Problems: • Specialist machinery • Weedwiping (selective control dependant on height

variation) • Hand pulling (ragwort, creeping thistle)

– HA4SS full-size Lazy Dog Frame with…HA4SS full-size Lazy Dog Frame with NO1b and NO8 noses. £121.46

• Crushing (bracken) • Cutting (thistles, bracken) • Spraying

– Equipment for distribution to volunteers i.e Toolkit – Ultrasonic Goggle Orange Frame Clear Supravision Lens £7.20 – Microgard 2000 Standard Coverall 103 white £5.37 – Marigold G25G Green Nitrile Glove £2.05 – Freeflow2 FFP3V Cupped Respirators (box of 5) £20.57 – Essentials Green Safety Wellington c/w midsole £6.28 – Titan Heavy Duty knapsack pressure sprayer 16L £44.85 – PA1 and PA6 (including exam fees) £370.00 – 25 Litre Water container (250 ml in 10l, 500m2) £4.99 – Roundup Pro Biactive 5l £63.00 – IBC Tanks: 500 Ltr Horizontal Water Tank inc, delivery £294.00 – Roundup Pro Biactive 5l £63.00 – Steminjectionsystems: Contractor Pack inc. delivery £406.32 – TOTAL £1287.63

Reseeding on wet soils

MANAGEMENT OF ESTABLISHED MEADOWS

Re-seeding and drainage

Reduction of water table for

Cattle pasture

Lower Fertiliser

input

Poaching/ Poor drainage

Increased water levels

Lack of Grazing/ Mowing Mowing as

Fen-meadow Increase of

soil moisture and lack of management

(grazing/mowing

M24 Purple

moorgrass Meadow

thistle Fen-Meadow

M22 Blunt-

flowered rush Marsh

Marigold Fen-meadow

MG8 Crested

dog’s-tail Marsh

marigold Water

Meadow

MG7 Perr.

Rye-grass ley

MG6 Perr.

Rye-grass Crested

Dog’s -tail Pasture

MG10 Yorkshire fog

Soft-rush Rush-pasture

MG13 Creeping bent

Marsh Foxtail

Inundation Grassland

M23 Soft-rush

Sharp flowered rush

Marsh bedstraw

Fen-meadow

M27 Meadowsweet

Wild Angelica

Mire

Mire

Typical wet Grassland

Mire

The Effect of grassland water management on grassland communities West Sedgemoor (RSPB)

MANAGEMENT OF ESTABLISHED MEADOWS Some zonations & successions between mesotrophic grasslands mediated by treatments (draft)

Arrhenatheretum elatiorus

MG1

Centaurea- Cynosuretum

MG5 Lolio-Cynosuretum

MG6 /MG7

Potentilla- festucum MG12

Festuca rubra- Agrost. stolon.-

Potentilla anserina Inundation grassland

MG11

Agrostis stolon. Alopecurus genic.

Inundation grassland MG13

Cynosurus-cristatus- Caltha palustris Flood-pasture

MG8

Holco-Juncetum Rush-pasture

MG10

Holcus lanatus Des. ces.

Coarse grassland MG9 Alopecurus pratensis

Sanguisorba officinalis Flood-meadow

MG4

Anthoxantum odoratum Geranium sylvaticum

Meadow MG3

Resumtion of winter grazing on damper sites

Abandonment of winter grazing on drier sites

Abandonment of winter grazing in sub-montane

climate

Resumption of winter grazing in sub-montane

climate

Resumption of winter grazing

Abandonment of winter grazing

Resumption of winter & summer grazing

Abandonment of winter & summer grazing

Resumption of summer grazing

Abandonment of summer grazing

Poaching &/or poor re-seed on

wet soils

Mow & fertilise + drain wet soils

Under-graze, neglect of drainage

Drain & fertilise

Flush or flood unimp. pasture

Fertilise & drain

Draining

Poaching & poor drainage

Embankment & re-seeding

Burning, embankment & re-

seeding ?Grazing Remove

grazing

Drain, plough, re-seed fertilise

& summer graze

Fertilise, plough re-seed summer graze

Mown & ungrazed

Mown, winter grazed & unimproved hay-meadows

Perm pasture with winter & summer grazing

Ill-drained winter & summer grazed

MEADOW CREATION THROUGH CHANGED MANAGEMENT

Grassland managers need to remember that: • they are managing complex and dynamic semi-natural

ecosystems, in which many things are interconnected and often interdependent and that as yet we do not understand all of these relationships.

• Grasslands are successional habitats and will change if they are left alone

• Quite a lot of change will occur within grassland communities, irrespective of management (as a result of droughts, heavy winters, competition between species etc.).

• Scrub and diversity of structure is often an important element of a grassland system.

• Grassland management for nature conservation is largely about the manipulation of the following:

– Succession – Plant community composition – Plant community structure – Levels of stress and disturbance

• Stability and continuity of management is particularly important (many of the most valuable grasslands have had long term stability and continuity of management).