www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Ewyas Harold Wildflower Meadow, Herefordshire.

On a re-visit to this wildflower meadow last week you can image my disappointment at seeing what sheep can do in a very short time. Butterfly Conservation have failed to monitor this potentially wonderful meadow, perhaps the photographs will show you what has happened in a far better way than I can explain with words

Bill

You may be right about mismanagement - I don't know - sheep grazing can be destructive. But all butterfly meadows have to look like that at least once a year.

The house I used to rent had a butterfly meadow as a garden, in which I recorded 64 species. I had it scythed right down to the ground every July, after the grass flowering, and the cuttings were used as hay. Many of the meadows where I now live are scythed for hay twice a year from what I can see. Others are grazed by cattle or, to a lesser extent, sheep. Were it not for the annual scything/grazing the meadowland would be woodland.

As I say, I don't doubt your judgment - just to say that the best meadows in the world look exactly like yours after being cut, so the picture alone doesn't tell me there is necessarily a problem!

Guy

I don't know what's happened to it this year. I visited twice in 2010 and the meadow was replete with butterfly-attracting blooms, but when I went there in early May to see Pearl Bordered Fritillaries, it had seemingly been mowed as the length of the sward was uniform.

Perhaps they're planning something with this area for next year, but I agree, it's anything but a 'butterfly meadow' in 2011.

padfield wrote:But all butterfly meadows have to look like that at least once a year

Of course Guy, but sheep are quite possibly the worst choice, I'm all for a bit of old fashioned scything for old fashioned style wildflower meadows and also regular site monitoring.

David M wrote:but I agree, it's anything but a 'butterfly meadow' in 2011

Thought perhaps I'd missed the show on my three visits this year David, lets hope next year is an improvement, I must'nt be too critical as it's still early days at this meadow.

Bill

(and no folks I'm not going to travel more than 40 miles with my scythe ...)

I too find many NNRs and LNRs butterfly deserts....mostly, it seems, managing grassland to Natural England standards, which have nothing to do with butterflies and all to do with the plants...This seems a universal complaint against NE ........

Of course the traditional management was for early season grazing and a later hay cut - or just one or two hay-cuts, depending on the season or fertility. Since most animals like nice fresh growth, they also consume the butterfly eggs which are also laid on that lush vegetation and trample others, so with too much grazing at the wrong times or all the land is grazed in the same manner, it does become too much for many species to prosper, particularly those which need relatively undisturbed sward. (I am mindful of a place Guy took us in CH - where the cows were deliberately removed from that particular pasture to allow the butterflies to breed - and we saw a large array of species).
N

NickB wrote:which have nothing to do with butterflies and all to do with the plants...

I don't think that either our butterflies or plants do exactly well when sheep are used as the primary grazers, very often compromises have to be reached with local farmers regarding the grazing regime, however if no follow up is done to monitor or regulate the stocking levels or amount of time the grazing animals are left on site then the results can often be just like Ewyas Harold Wildflower Meadows are this year. I fully understand that Butterfly Conservation are working with limited resources, both in personnel and finances, indeed it often comes down to volunteers from local BC branches to oversee reserves, however the ultimate responsibilty for any reserve management lies with BC management, and at Ewyas Harold Wildflower Meadows this year it has failed, this is a great pity because it has such tremendous potential.

Ironically, but thankfully, Ewyas Harold Common which is being habitat managed for Pearl-bordered Fritillary (by BC volunteers etc) has had an excellent season with record numbers seen. I hope that BC West Midlands Branch can persuade local members to take another look at the adjoining wildflower meadow habitat management, and that in the future it can sit happily alongside it's next-door neighbour and enjoy the same success as the Pearl-bordered Fritillary has.

Thank you for your contribution NIck.

Bill

I know of a couple of meadows and a few acres of bog land in NI that were grazed by cattle and one by exmoor ponies, only for a few days though. I noticed the bog recovered well, maybe because it wasn't grazed long? One of the meadows had similar happen to it as Ewayas, but there were small patches of plants here and there, guess it will all grow back again? The one managed by ponies does well as its a prime habitat for marsh fritillary but not sure how long its grazed for though.

I know you need to control the growth of some plants to avoid others being swamped out such as the grass that the small heath feeds on, has to be managed well or it can't survive. Often wondered how insects that rely on meadows actually survive in mid-late autumn and winter when the area has been cut as I know some moths spend winter as young caterpillars or eggs such as Garden Tiger and how could they survive if the area was cut or grazed to the point little is left?

Cheers, Willrow

I think no-one in BC would argue that using cattle (the right cattle, at the right time and densities) to break-down scrub and open-up an overgrown meadow site is beneficial, nor that grazing by sheep (to the correct densities and at the right times) does provide management that aids development of a site for Lepidoptera, in the right circumstances. However, there seems little flexibility in some of these management regimes; once sites are opened-up, different regimes need to be adopted. Timing and density of stock is critical to butterflies and moths, yet because many reserves are grazed with native rare breeds, or the like, it is "All Right" and "Natural" - often forgetting those first two critical points.

What I see and hear is that many schemes that qualify, or would qualify, for environmental funding, manage to a standard they are measured by - one that comes down from Natural England. Anyone that has read these provisions- HK15 Maintenance of grassland for target features, for instance - will see there is only vague mention of target species and no consideration in the plans for Lepidoptera, what-so-ever. Yet these are the schemes that our money is being channelled into, through government schemes and support the claims that something is being done....

If you gave a smaller budget and the management of such schemes to local BC members on-the-ground, I'm sure that both Lepidoptera would benefit - and it would cost us less as tax-payers too.
A win-win situation I would say...

Dave McCormick wrote: I know you need to control the growth of some plants to avoid others being swamped out such as the grass that the small heath feeds on, has to be managed well or it can't survive. Often wondered how insects that rely on meadows actually survive in mid-late autumn and winter when the area has been cut as I know some moths spend winter as young caterpillars or eggs such as Garden Tiger and how could they survive if the area was cut or grazed to the point little is left?

What wildlife appreciates is a range of habitats - managing mosaics, or parcels of land, by leaving areas of scrub to grow for a few years, mowing paths through rather than all, leaving corners and edges of fields un-touched; rotating clearances, leaving un-cut or fallow areas, and only cutting half of any of these areas the next year; restrict browsing by animals, especially between April and September when Lepidoptera are breeding - all these should improve the bio-diversity of a site. If you maximise the number of niches in any environment and keep a dynamic regime of mosaic-creation, then it is likely that some of those niches will suite butterflies, the ones you would expect to see there, the ones you hoped to see, but didn't.

It is a difficult balance - but a few small places by hedges and field boundaries that are left undisturbed or cut in Oct/Nov can make a big difference. Butterflies have not been adopted as a sign of environmental change for nothing by the government - they are quick to take the opportunities presented to them and if possible will multiply where there were just hanging-on before...
..unfortunately, given the wrong management, they can equally disappear just as quickly...

N