No mow May starts in March in my Sussex garden.
Whilst, conservation grazing on Wolstonbury Hill, (south of Hurstpierpoint in West Sussex), is almost continuous as it is good for yellow meadow ants and chalk downland plants. On Wolstonbury Hill there might be 100,000 ant hills.
At Natural World - 2010-2011: 8. Butterflies: A Very British Obsession - BBC iPlayer is an exceptional programme, which explains why ants are so important to our butterflies.
Steers on Saturday 21 March 26 eating both coarse and finer grasses.
Cattle have largely cleared Tor-grass, (Brachypodium pinnatum), often highlighted by conservation groups like Plantlife in relation to roadside verges. It is a coarse, perennial grass that can become dominant and threaten biodiversity in calcareous grasslands. It thrives in low-grazing conditions, forming dense thatch that stifles wildflowers.
The Friends of Wolstonbury clear scrub with saws and loppers 21 March 26.
Whisps of smoke from the scrub bonfire.
Ten miles to the north in the High Weald, sandstone and clay strata support very different plants in my wildlife garden.
From March, a hundred or more snake's-head fritillaries are in flower plus numerous Cowslips, Primroses, violets and more.
That means that, apart from pathways in the lawn, I'll not be mowing until Autumn/winter. Four species of native orchids have grown in former years but last year's drought may have killed some of them.
Four species of ants thrive including a big, decades old yellow meadow ant hill.
Such a diversity of plants support very many insect species: a joy to observe.
