Save Britain’s wildflower meadows

This video is called English Wild Flower Meadow.

From Wildlife Extra:

Plantlife launches a campaign to save Britain’s last remaining meadows

May 2013. For the first time, Plantlife are launching a unique project that will see a number of charities and councils across the UK joining forces in a bid to save Britain’s wildflower meadows and grasslands that are rapidly declining and under serious threat. Nearly 7.5 million acres have been lost so far and they are still being destroyed. Once gone, they are irreplaceable.

Yet meadows of native wild flowers are enjoying a huge vogue in gardening; they look beautiful and attract wildlife, particularly threatened pollinators. But the real wild flower meadows are vanishing – and with them our native flowers such as green-winged orchid, oxlip, dyer’s greenweed, and meadow saffron. Meadows and grasslands are an intrinsic part of the UK’s natural and cultural heritage: rich in landscape character, folklore and history, they are as much a part of our heritage as the works of Shakespeare.

98% of meadows have disappeared

There were once natural wild flower meadows in every parish – today only 2% of the meadows that existed in the 1930’s remain.

The “Save our Magnificent Meadows” project which is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund aims to protect, conserve and restore wildflower meadows across the UK, and will focus on the Fermanagh grasslands of Northern Ireland, the pastures of west Wales, the calaminarian and whin grasslands of Northumberland and traditional meadows and grassland areas in southern England.

Wildflower Meadows

In the 19th century, before internal combustion and oil, much of the British economy was hay driven, and some 4.5 million tons were produced each year. Now, with mechanisation, fertiliser, insecticide and industrial farming, we are forced to legislate to protect the few remaining wildflower meadows. Top book – We really like this book, and recommend it to anyone interested in the UK’s wildlife.

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