Richard Hampshires article about the creation of Hay Meadows

The new haymeadow extension near the visitor centre

Many of you will have heard or read the recent details regarding new mowing regimes on the reservoir embankments to satisfy safety legislation.  As an attempt to mitigate this activity we are extending the existing strip of haymeadow which was left to largely self generate between the centre and the ‘O’ reservoir to also incorporate the area of amenity grassland close to the centre.

Initially the existing perennial ryegrass has been sprayed off in order to give the meadow grasses opportunity to get away without competition.  As can be seen from the colour the soil is very rich so we decided to also turf strip half the site as a trial using a mechanical excavator in an attempt to reduce nutrient levels.  This area is nearly down to the clay subsoil with just a fine loam covering the surface in which to sow our seed mix.  Hopefully this should also knock back creeping buttercup which is abundant here and could potentially become dominant.

At the rear of the area along the fenceline we are intending to plant a native species hedge over winter consisting of hazel, blackthorn and hawthorn amongst others which should mask the treatment works buildings to some extent and provide great nesting habitat.  For a few metres in front of this we are leaving a margin for taller perennials and biennials to become established as with other sections further south.  We have some foxglove collected from around the site previously to go in here, as well as much transplanted teasel and red campion.  In time the willowherbs, hogweeds and cow parsleys will undoubtedly follow creating an excellent finch feeding habitat.  This margin will be roughly cut as necessary to prevent it becoming dominated by bramble. 

The majority of the area will be dedicated to hay meadow with an annual cut and collection in early autumn like the reservoir grasslands, combined with probable hand pulling of creeping thistle in the early years to prevent it becoming dominant.  We have some existing seed collected from the reserve to go in here including cowslip, scabious and poppy, and we have a large quantity of purchased greater knapweed, oxeye daisy and bird’s foot trefoil to use up on the meadow too.       

For this work we have also bought in selected seed based on our existing species lists of fairy flax, meadow cranesbill, tufted vetch, meadow vetchling, red bartsia, self heal, lady’s bedstraw and harebell.  

Obviously there are many important species missing from this mix but we intend to poach plugs and turf from other areas of the site that would otherwise succumb to the mower including some of the O reservoir grassland and sections containing sneezewort.  In doing this we hope to maximise the local progeny of the new grassland. 

In terms of grasses we have purchased a clay / loam mix containing common bent, crested dogstail, meadow barley, quaking grass, red fescue (ssp. Pruinosa and Commutata), smooth meadowgrass and sweet vernal grass, this is in addition to a 5% overall quantity of parasitic yellow rattle.  Obviously the disturbed ground will expose many other local species.

We hope to evaluate the success of the two regimes and potentially trial another area with rotovation in future.  We are then considering rolling this out onto other amenity grasslands around the centre / works, and based on this look at other Yorkshire Water sites too. 

My thanks go out to everyone who has helped both by imparting their wisdom and physical labour into this project – hopefully we should see a great reward in a few years.