Healthy habitats
As well as selective grazing, this important mosaic of short and long grass is also managed by a careful cutting programme. The meadows are usually cut in June or July, to encourage a wider variety of wildflowers and to provide a better habitat for ground-nesting birds and mammals.
There are other nifty techniques that we use to improve the habitat, too. Paths are cut for visitors through the meadows in wavy lines, which increases the surface area of the edge habitat between the long and short grass. Thistle and ragwort are also controlled with the help of volunteers.
Once the flowers have gone over and the grass has begun to set seed, the meadows are cut. This removes a lot of nutrients from the meadow soil, which is (perhaps surprisingly) good for biodiversity since many meadow species do better in nutrient-poor conditions. Some of the hillside meadows are too steep for machine cutting, so an ace team of volunteers take to the fields to cut and rake the grass by hand.
Today you can see a whole host of wildflower species growing in the meadows at Runnymede and Ankerwycke. In spring and early summer you can spot red clovers, buttercups, birdsfoot trefoil, oxeye daisies, knapweeds, scabious and lots more.