The North Meadow: creating a wildflower haven – 10 years on
Barton Farm Country Park is due to be transferred from Wiltshire Council to the Town Council. In preparation for this transfer, the Town Council commissioned an ecological survey by the Bath-based nature recovery specialists Ecosulis. This seemed to be an appropriate time to look back on our 10 years of involvement with the meadow. Kate Nicholls reports
The story of the North Meadow project begins in 2009, when the then Wiltshire Council senior ranger Leo Wirtz suggested that our Landscape Group might help to improve the meadow that originally belonged to Barton Farm. Since the 1970s, when the land was no longer farmed and the county council became the owners, North Meadow – the area beyond Barton Bridge, along by the river from Bradford on Avon Rowing Club to the path over the railway to Belcombe Road – was left to become a tussocky grass area that was cut twice a year.
We took on the task of turning it into a wildflower meadow. With Leo to advise us and our group of enthusiastic volunteers we got underway. In January 2009, I wrote in Guardian Angel:
This is a long-term project and it was very exciting to have made a start in the late autumn. Our efforts now will take some time to be rewarded but we hope that we’ll see some improvement in two or three years.
The plan is to improve the bio-diversity of the North Meadow. Because grazing is not possible this area has deteriorated and become overgrown with rank grass.”
At about the same time Climate Friendly Bradford planted a range of native trees along the northern edge alongside the railway line (as well as many more on the other side of the river along the riverside path). Those trees have flourished and provide a rich habitat for birds and other wildlife.
That first autumn, after preparing the ground, we sowed Yellow Rattle, an annual plant that parasitises the roots of grass, depleting it over time and allowing flowers to take root.
The following spring we sowed a variety of wildflowers after preparing 140 square metres of ground, by scarifying and raking.
In the spring of 2012, we had a wildflower walk in the meadow for members, led by Gwyneth Yerrington. We recorded over 30 species of wildfowers, including Lady's Bedstraw, Agrimony and Black Medick.
During the following years we sowed more seeds of different varieties -some succeeding and others failing.
A critical factor we had to depend on was the cutting of the grass and removing the arisings. For this we relied on the Wiltshire Council contractors. The council staff were very supportive but for several years it was not a reliable service. It seemed a difficult task to get the cutting done at the right time (in the autumn), and -more importantly -for the arisings to be removed. In 2014 our disappointment with the contractors resulted in an article – with photo – in the Wiltshire Times.
Since then the service has improved and for the past two or three years I have not had to contact the Council regarding the cutting – only to thank them for the work.
By 2017 we were recording over 45 species of wildflowers – I wrote this in Guardian Angel that autumn:
“The meadow is looking probably the best I’ve ever seen it – an abundance of Lady’s Bedstraw and Meadow Cranesbill gradually spreading – certainly more than last year. Purple Loosestrife, Chicory and Scabious adding splashes of purply blue here and there. We also recorded 12 species of butterfly.”
One of our local butterfly experts, Sarah Gregory, accompanied our wildflower walks and she has been recording butterflies in the meadow annually over the summer months for many years. That year Sarah recorded 19 different species, including Marbled White, Small Copper and Small Skipper. In 2019, 22 species were recorded.
As I said back in 2009, this is a long-term project. The Yellow Rattle has spread and it’s certainly noticeable how the grass has weakened. Of course, we continue to work in North Meadow – and in recent years the Barton Farm Volunteers group (of which several of us in the Trust Landscape Group are members) also help with managing the surrounding hedgerows and trees and litter picking.
Chris Hogg, the Town Council Green Spaces Officer, has also become an important advisor to our work, taking over from the Wiltshire Council team.
The ecologists at Ecosulis have commented favourably on our work and the town council will be releasing their report when finalised in the near future. They have several suggestions for further improvement of the meadow and, hopefully, over the next few years those improvements will be realised.
I would like to say thank you to the Countryside Officers at Wiltshire Council – Alison Rasey, Vicky Roscoe and Paul Millard, the Council of Management for their support over the years and to the Landscape Group volunteers. And perhaps especially to Gwyneth Yerrington, who has always generously shared her vast botanical knowledge and from whom I have learnt so much.
