Over the last 60 years most of our beautiful and bio-diverse meadows have been lost, from changes in farming practices, shrinking wild areas and the increased number of roads/houses being built. Meadows support a myriad of insects, attracted to the pollen and nectar rich flowering plants and diverse habitat, in turn these insects support many small mammals and birds.
Simply by creating a wildflower patch in your garden, you can greatly increase the range of wildlife visiting your garden and with over 16 million gardens in the UK we have a potential area greater than all of our national parks combined!
Why are meadows important?
- species rich grasslands support a wide array of insects, mammals and birds
- meadows help prevent soil erosion
- meadows help water retention and can help to prevent flooding
- meadows sequester (store) lots of carbon
Typical wildflower species in the UK
- Agrostemma githago
- Allium ursinum
- Anacamptis pyramidalis
- Anemone nemorosa
- Anthriscus sylvestris
- Aquilegia vulgaris
- Armeria maritima
- Bellis perennis
- Caltha palustris
- Campanula rotundifolia
- Cardamine pratensis
- Centaurea cyanus
- Cichorium intybus
- Convallaria majalis
- Crambe maritima
- Daucus carota
- Digitalis purpurea
- Dipsacus fullonum
- Eryngium maritimum
- Galium verum
- Geranium pratense
- Geum rivale
- Hyacinthoides non-scripta
- Knautia arvensis
- Lonicera periclymenum
- Lotus corniculatus
- Lychnis flos-cuculi
- Malva moschata
- Meconopsis cambrica
- Myosotis sylvatica
- Narcissus pseudonarcissus
- Ophrys apifera
- Orchis mascula
- Papaver rhoeas
- Primula veris
- Primula vulgaris
- Ranunculus bulbosus
- Rosa canina
- Tragopogon pratensis
- Viola odorata
- Achillea millefolium
- Anagallis arvensis
