The Queensway wildflower meadow was treated to some traditional management practices last week when a 2 day training event to introduce volunteers to the art of scything took place.
Organised by North Wales Wildlife Trust, a key partner in the Wrexham Green Infrastructure Project volunteers from the Incredible Edible Wrexham network were given demonstrations on the techniques, tool management and the importance of keeping these skills alive.
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Scything has been around for hundreds of years and is actually still one of the most efficient tools for cutting grass. The benefits of scything are quite long; not only is it wonderfully quiet and eco friendly; it only uses human power; making it great exercise too!
Cutting the wildflowers at this time of year helps maintain a diverse mix of flowers and grasses and helps ensure they return next year. Wildflower meadows require annual maintenance to allow the more desirable species to flourish and reduce the vigour of more dominant species so cutting now will help that.
Jacinta Challinor, the green infrastructure project officer says ‘This wonderful display has been well received by the community with local residents telling me how they have seen children playing inside and people taking photographs. One resident talked about how much they love waking up and seeing these flowers every day from their window. It is so heart-warming to hear such positive feedback.’
Iwan Edwards, project officer with the North Wales Wildlife Trust added, “The tradition of managing meadows with the scythe goes back to a time when farms and communities helped and supported each other with manual work in the fields. The scythe remains the most effective tool for cutting hay manually and we would welcome others to get involved to help manage these beautiful new meadows in Caia Park, improve their health and wellbeing and be a part of a brilliant project.
Cllr David A Bithell, Lead Member for the Environment, said: “This is another excellent example of the Green Infrastructure project and North Wales Wildlife Trust improving the environment for residents and visitors to Wrexham. The meadows have been really well received since they were planted earlier in the year and we hope to see many more in the future.”
The Green Infrastructure Project is now asking for responses for work planned for this autumn and winter so please get in touch and let us know your thoughts on the nominations received. To view the nominations follow this link.
https://news.wrexham.gov.uk/green-infrastructure-improvements-planned/
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