As early summer approaches, The Millennium Bridge wildflower meadow in York is blooming with wildflowers and alive with wildlife. Eithne Phillips tells us more about this “haven for wildlife” and encourages us to all get involved in managing our meadows!
Planting wildflowers is a great way to support our bee populations
Millennium Bridge is a wildlife meadow just a stone’s throw away from the river Ouse, found on the Fulford side of the river. Previously an unmemorable expanse of amenity grassland, the site is now on its way to becoming a haven for wildlife.
There have been many organisations and funders who have supported Millennium Bridge Fields over the years, first through Buglife’s Urban Buzz Programme and then St Nicks with the project, Meadow Keepers. This was made possible thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund who supported Meadow Keepers for nearly two years. Working with fifteen grassland sites around York, we trained people in the age old skill of scything, botanical identification and monitoring of grassland habitats. Millennium Bridge Fields was one such site and after the project came to an end, the meadow gained further financial support through the council to continue the good work.
Though the site has changed hands over the years, the aims and values behind the management of Millennium Bridge Fields have remained the same; to create a green space that supports local communities- both animal and human. And we’re on our way to reaching our goals thanks to a plethora of volunteers; from a young infant identifying wildflowers with her mother all the way through to pensioners who remembered a time when scythes were a regular sight in the British countryside. These volunteers have done so much work to improve the meadow; digging up the grassy turf and sowing with a wildflower seed mix and planting wildflower plugs.
Our helpful volunteers hard at work
Adding to species diversity is so important in order to support a range of fauna. For example: you may not know that different bee species have varying lengths of tongue and will pick out the best suited wildflowers accordingly! We also try and plant species that will flower at different times of year; we have recently added spring flowering primroses to the meadow which will support early emerging queen bumblebees.
Last but by no means least we use Austrian scythes in our sessions to mow the meadow. Using this heritage skill we mow the meadows and remove the cuttings. If we left the cuttings (arisings) then the vegetation would breakdown and leach nitrogen back into the soil, encouraging the growth of grasses and weeds. These will out-compete wildflower species and turn the site into grassland of poor bio-diversity. Also, unlike petrol mowers, scythes produce no emissions or noise pollution making for a more environmentally friendly and peaceful work space that our volunteers can enjoy too.
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