Wildflower Meadow Creation

As our nature reserve begins to take shape, we’ve made more progress on the creation of our wildflower meadow. A large area of the ‘Field of Life’ within the nature reserve will become a wildflower meadow to add colour and beauty as well as the nectar-rich plants helping to support dwindling populations of native pollinators.

The wildflower meadow will offer a valuable habitat and provide floral resources and nesting sites to hundreds of bee species, butterflies, moths and other insects. Many birds, small mammals and some amphibians will also thrive on the food and shelter that the wildflower meadow provides.

Earlier last year, after the field was cut, we seeded half of the field with yellow rattle which provided a beautiful yellow carpet in Spring and helped supress the growth of thistles and other weeds.

At the end of last summer during a dry week, we collected the seeds from the Yellow Rattle plants by picking a few stems from each plant and shaking them into our seed collecting bags. This seed was then ready to be sown again.

During the last few weeks, the field was once again cut with the hay bails being collected to feed cattle. It was then scarified and seeded with a wildflower meadow mix.

We now look forward to Spring time next year to see the fruits of our labour with a hopeful array of eye catching colours on display and many different species of pollinators.

We give thanks to Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, Zoe Bell from Arden Farm Wildlife Network, James Smith at Meadow Care and Will Steel.