I’ll grant you every habitat has something special about it, an aspect of itself that causes you to stop and become exceedingly aware of your existence. I’m talking about the misty morning in a wooded valley when the dawn chorus cascades through the still empty branches or that moment on a coastal cliff when a fulmar suddenly appears against the backdrop of blue before disappearing again like it was never there. But there’s something about a meadow that really sticks in my head. It’s that moment when you carve a trail through the grass and every step gives birth to an eruption of life in all possible shapes and forms. Grasshoppers, flower bugs, Pygmy shrews and sleepy bees! As you raise your head your gaze is greeted with butterflies flirting with their favourite flowers and the raucous colours of hay rattle, knapweed, vetches and orchids! It’s an all out assault on the senses in every dimension!
Fermanagh is home to some of the best remaining wildflower meadows not just in Northern Ireland but the whole of the UK. The Magnificent Meadows project is working incredibly hard to try and keep that fact accurate. Giving farmers and land owners in the area a common voice and recognition for the incredible work that they’ve done to keep the land in such great condition. Not only that but the project has been creating habitat and reaching out to the community to make everyone aware of how lucky we really are down here. Take Monastery Meadows for example, this is a plot of land owned by the Catholic Church next to Mount Lordes Grammar school in the centre of Enniskillen and TCV, Natural Networks and Ulster Wildlife have been integral to its transformation.
The site started as a tangled mess of couch grass, and scrub growth that hadn’t been grazed nor cut for many years.but the potential was there, like I said before you have to think 4th dimensionally in conservation. Its right beside a school, in the middle of the county capital, on the edge of a river with in full view of a main road, there is no more perfect flagship site for magnificent meadows. The Fermanagh conservation action team cleared blackthorn so dense that light couldn’t escape it, they cut, raked and dragged along with myself and Ulster Wildlife staff and volunteers until finally something more than hopeful began to emerge, something real. The encroaching hedge had been pushed back, the rank grass had been stripped off and taken away. The school children and teachers were enlightened by our efforts, learning the names of plants, trees and wildlife when they visited. Their enthusiasm for the project was blatant, a meadow on their doorstep! What more could you want? The breeding season was upon us and It was left to its own devices to see what would emerge, our fingers crossed that magnificence stirred in the soil and all it had needed was the room to grow.
As expected summer arrived (all be it in date and less in weather) and we returned to the see the fruits of our labour. A greater spectacle could not have greeted us, trefoils. clovers knapweeds and vetches! Meadow browns flitted from purple to yellow while blue tailed damselflies made meals of midges and common carders sang whirred busily on. We even had an orchid! I could barely believe it! It needed to be seen to do so and so that’s what needed to be done by anyone and everyone. National Meadows Day brought farmers, grandfathers, mothers and daughters down to Monastery meadows and each and everyone was staggered at the majesty of the place, they were enthralled by the diversity and the action that unfolded in front of them. We helped them identify flowers, to catch frogs and moths, to pick posies and take pictures. We tried to instill in them what was so strongly instilled in us. That this can exist and it can be for everyone! Bumblebee training days, botanical surveys and moth trapping would follow at Monastery meadows with great treasures being brought forth like heath bumblebees and poplar hawkmoths. Awareness grows and in a place like Fermanagh where word of mouth is often faster than the world wide web the tales of that meadow by Mount Lordes have spread and spread.
We returned the other day as the harvest is upon us and a meadow needs cut if its to maintain its richness. Without cutting and lifting the nutrients leach back into the soil and the rank vegetation breeds nothing but undiversity, reversity if you will. Like an overgrown woodland the light can’t break through, the flowers can’t compete and the greedy grasses overwhelm. An Allen scythe and a whole lot of raking later and the whole place is looking sparse again but it feels good to give it a face lift, you can almost hear the grasses scorning you for chipping away at their dominance. More management like this and their reign will soon be over, the flowers will reach higher and spread further and only the friendly grasses will be forgiven for their greedy cousins and allowed to remain.
I’ve been inspired by this meadow to try and create its like elsewhere to spread its business and colour to other areas. Lough Head Park is somewhere I’ve grown really fond of over the last 8 months and although its blesses with beautiful ponds and some brilliant wildflowers I wanted to add even more to the mix. A blank piece of grass along the edge of the path is screaming out for some business and colour. I’ve had the idea of organising a work party to get volunteers down to try and clear some turf, break up the soil and sow some seeds. Seeds that have been collected from an incredible farmers meadow just up the road as part of the Magnificent Meadows Project. As local as you could ever get! The bare earth will sit exposed over winter, the only thing alluring to its importance will be a small sign saying “Mini Meadow in construction” To start some people will argue that cut grass looks better than bare soil and many will wander what on earth we have done, that we’ve ruined the place but like I said before……you’ve got to think 4th dimensionally.