Why a meadow in bloom is becoming a thing of the past

Grasslands and plant species lost forever as farms take toll.

England's flower meadows are declining at an alarming rate, with some plant species disappearing altogether.

Worst-hit counties include Worcestershire, which has lost three-quarters of its unimproved grasslands; Derbyshire, where more than half have been damaged; and Shropshire, where almost half have been destroyed.

Farmers continuing to use intensive agricultural methods, lack of understanding of how to manage meadows, and simple neglect have taken their toll on the English countryside. As well as plants, insect diversity is also suffering with butterflies such as the Marsh Fritillary and Chalkhill Blue in steady decline.

The Wildlife Trusts, which operate 2,400 nature reserves, and Plantlife, a charity dedicated to saving Britain's wild plants, surveyed eight English counties to check on the status of meadows.

These had been identified in previous surveys as valuable reservoirs of large numbers of flowering plants and insects - many of them rare in the wider countryside. In all eight counties - Cornwall, Derbyshire, Linclolnshire, Shropshire, Suffolk, Warwickshire, Wiltshire and Worcestershire - conditions were deteriorating.

In Worcestershire, for example, 1,100 hectares of valuable grassland was identified in 1975, but in the 2000 survey 725 hectares had been damaged or destroyed and only 25% remained in good condition. Many of these were small single fields, and vulnerable to loss.

In Lincolnshire almost all unimproved grassland has disappeared, with 80% losses since 1965, and even 10% gone since the last survey in 1994. In the entire county, the second largest in the country, there is only 23 hectares of unimproved acid grassland, 62 hectares of limestone grassland and 132 hectares of neutral grassland remaining.

John Cousins, director of agriculture for the Wildlife Trusts said: "We have to go the extremities of the British Isles to find the kind of flower rich meadows that used to abound in England.

"One application of fertiliser or weedkiller can destroy a rich meadow for ever. It is virtually impossible to recreate this kind of habitat so we should do our best to hang on to what we have got," he said.

"It is ludicrous that we spend £2bn a year subsidising farmers to grow food, when the other things which make our countryside of such value to us, such as the wildlife and the biodiversity that are so important to tourism, are neglected."

Mr Cousins stressed that the report was not an attack on farmers. Farmers had to make a living and they must use their land to best advantage. For example, some had enclosed meadow land for horses because it made better money than sheep but the trampling of the heavier animals had destroyed the plants.

In Redgrave and Lopham fen in Suffolk, a reserve run by the trusts, Tarpan ponies had been imported from Poland to graze the marshes to provide the right habitat for a variety of rare plants and grasses. Also imported for the same area were Hebridean sheep, who were tough enough to stand the conditions, and selectively grazed the vegetation.

Mr Cousins said the trusts had trouble all over England finding farmers with suitable stock available to graze grassland.

"The problem is too much stock eats and tramples everything. We need just enough animals to leave some short, some long grass. Cattle are good in small numbers to trample in seed and provide the right growing conditions. Without careful management, and that means cash aid, we are going to lose what we have left."

Among the areas which needed cattle to preserve biodiversity were the large reserves near Sizewell in Suffolk where there had been no farmers with stock available and they had to be bussed in.

The two organisations both favour the government's schemes for encouraging farmers to look after these remaining grasslands by declaring "environmentally sensitive areas" but found that even in these places some valuable grassland was being lost.

In some cases it was because farmers did not understand how to manage them, or the payments to do so from the government were too small to be worthwhile.

Government agencies such as the rural development service should contact the farmers who own these meadows, help them manage the land for species protection and give them financial support, the report says.

Martin Harper, Plantlife's conservation director, said: "It is vital that our last remaining wildlife-rich grasslands are protected.

"The government's agri-environment schemes have been a success in many areas, and this success must be built on to stop the tragic disappearance of what we have left. These initiatives must be improved as a matter of urgency."

Both groups want action on the proposals in the Curry report on the future of food and farming, especially the switching of more funds from food production to environmental stewardship.

At risk
Plants

Early Spider Orchid (Ophrys sphegodes). Two to 10 flowers in a spike in short grass in rocky areas. Flowers April to June

Burnt-tip Orchid (Orchis ustulata). Spike of fragrant blooms. Flowers May to June in grass or scrub.

Both need well-drained limestone soil and have been lost from Northamptonshire and Essex. Early Spider also gone from Surrey and Lincolnshire. Burnt Orchid no longer found in Essex and Cambridgeshire.

Deptford Pink (Dianthus armeria).

Acid grassland plant with spiky leaves and delicate flowers lost in Suffolk, Middlesex and Gloucestershire.

The Meadow clary (Salvia pratenis).

Limestone species with bright blue flowers. Lost from Middlesex and Northamptonshire

Butterflies

Marsh Fritillary (Euphydryas aurinia).

Lost 55% breeding sites in last 30 years, survives on a few wet grasslands. This fritillary has one brood a year. Butterflies hatch in May and can be seen until the end of June

Chalk Hill Blue (Lysandra coridon).

Needs tall grass on chalk downlands and slopes where its foodplant, horse shoe vetch, grows. Down 25% in 30 years and is confined to small breeding areas on hills and cliffs in the south and central England. Butterflies seen in July to September.