The Reading
team visited a superb flower meadow recently. It was glorious sunshine, and
there was an array of multi-coloured delights: Cat’s-ears (Hypochaeris
radicata), Hawk’s-beards (Crepis spp.), Red and white clovers (Trifolium
pratense & T. repens), Oxeye daisies (Leucanthemum vulgare) and Lesser and hop trefoils (Trifolium dubium & T. campestre).
Flower meadow in cemetery before strimming
Unfortunately
for the flowers (and the pollinators) this was an urban cemetery, and as we
were sampling the workmen with their strimmers advanced. The strimmers were not
selective. Every flower was cut. Upon leaving, our survey site all the flowers
had gone, and the headstones now lie amongst the close-cropped grass and the
scattered, drying remains of those flowers. We were not too impressed with this
new flowerless landscape. Its hard to imagine why such severe strimming is
necessary, and more importantly, what happens to the many insects that thrived
in the area before the strimming? Where do they go when their habitats are
modified so severely several times in a season?
Flower meadow in cemetery after strimming
No comments:
Post a Comment