Advice Please on mowing wildflower meadows

[selbypaul]

Back in May 2010 I seeded a smallish 6x5 metre wildflower meadow in my garden. Last Autumn, in early October, I mowed the whole 6x5 metres to a height of around an inch off the ground. It's been pretty successful this year, with many more flowers and has attracted increased numbers of Gatekeepers, plus a single Meadow Brown, and a single Common Blue.

I have no idea if any of these three or others have laid eggs in the meadow, but want to ensure that if they have, I give them the greatest chance of surviving into next year.

So can anyone give me advice on:
1) What % of the meadow should I mow this October? All 6x5 metres, or just a proportion?
2) What height is the best height to mow to? My mowers highest setting leaves an inch of grass, is that enough, or should I leave longer grass?

All comments and advice appreciated.
Cheers
Paul

[Mark Senior]

Somewhere on here is a thread I started which contained a link to Bedelands Farm Nature reserve and a study done there by Sussex University on the results of mowing/grazing etc on butterfly numbers in flower rich meadows . Googling Bedelands Farm should lead you find it .

[selbypaul]

Thanks Mark

[JohnR]

I shall cut my wildflower field probably in late September to a heigh of about 4 inches (it rather depends on when the seeds ripen because I need them for somewhere else). It is important to cut again in early spring to about the same height, thus cutting back the grass which would like to swamp the flowers. I did the second cut in March this year.
Remove the cut grass because you don't want it to rot and enrich the soil, I tend to leave it on the ground for several days to allow anything living on it to find somewhere else for a home.
I assume that your wildflowers include perennials and are not just annuals because if they are the latter they need to be resown.

[selbypaul]

Hi JohnR
When cut, I definately remove the grass, after leaving it for a couple of days. My main worry is that when I cut it I'll be killing some larvae, and when I remove the cuttings, I'll be removing both eggsa and larvae.

I'm therefore guessing that by leaving 4 inches uncut, and removing after a couple of days, this is minimising losses of larvae and eggs?
Paul