Embracing No Mow May: A Gateway to Rewilding Urban and Suburban Spaces
No Mow you're way into climate action with our handy guide.
As spring emerges, the "No Mow May" movement is growing ever larger and with over 20 million gardens in the UK the movement has plenty of places to expand and widen its impact. In a few days, homeowners and city parks alike will be pausing their mowing routines for a month. Cities and individuals understand that the pause allows wildflowers to seed and promotes the growth of wild grasses and natural wildflowers which in turn attracts and helps our pollinators and small insects.
The initiative began as a small campaign in 2019 and has burgeoned into a significant ecological practice. It offers numerous benefits for local biodiversity, particularly in urban and suburban settings and allows an easy way for concerned people and cities to make a beneficial impact to the environment.
The Impact of No Mow May
During No Mow May, lawns and grassy areas are left to grow wild. This seemingly simple act has profound implications for local ecosystems. First, it provides essential habitats for various species, including insects, birds, and small mammals, many of which have suffered due to urban sprawl and intensive agricultural practices. Wildflowers that bloom in these undisturbed lawns serve as crucial food sources for pollinators like bees and butterflies. Species which are vital for pollination and the health of local plant life.
Second, allowing grasses and wildflowers to flourish increases plant diversity, which in turn improves soil health and reduces the need for chemical fertilisers and pesticides. It creates a more resilient landscape that can better withstand the pressures of climate change and extreme weather events.
A recent analysis of six years of butterfly sightings across 600 British gardens by the Butterfly Conservation has provided the first scientific evidence that wilder lawns boost butterfly numbers.
“The benefits of leaving areas of grass long were most pronounced in gardens within intensively farmed landscapes, with up to 93% more butterflies found and a greater range of species. Gardens with long grass in urban areas showed an 18% boost to butterfly abundance”.
According to the study, long grass in gardens attracts more butterfly species whose caterpillars feed on grasses. These include meadow browns, gatekeepers, speckled woods, ringlets and small skippers. According to the Butterfly Conservation this suggested the boost in population was not simply because long grass provided more nectar from wildflowers within it, such as dandelions or knapweed, but because butterflies were seeking or actually breeding in rewilded lawns.
If you have a patch of long grass you may have grasshoppers, beetles and ant hills as well – a fabulous spinoff.
No Mow May and Wild Meadows at LettsSafari
Linking these principles to the rewilding efforts at LettsSafari, No Mow May can be seen as a microcosm of the broader rewilding initiatives that aim to restore and protect natural habitats. LettsSafari's projects and parks focus on transforming degraded landscapes into vibrant ecosystems by reintroducing native species and allowing ecological processes to self-regulate. Similarly, No Mow May encourages a smaller-scale yet impactful form of rewilding, right in our own backyards.
We practice more than just No Mow May. We vary the lengths of the grasses at LettsSafari gardens to improve the prospects for differing types of wildflowers and animal life. We will do a last mow in October to allow wildflowers to more easily seed.
Then some areas where we have more low lying spring flowers like primroses and celadine we might mow in March with the blade set high enough to avoid the young leaves of those flowers and avoid mowing in April to allow them to flower. We’ll skip mowing in May and then do a mow a month at a varied high settings that allows wild growth. But more than that, we leave some areas unmowed to allow for the taller wildflowers. Shorter wildflowers can be helped by a monthly mow to allow them more space and light to produce.
Remember, in nature, grasslands would have been grazed by different species moving through the wild lands in a constant movement and in tight groups staying wary of potential predators, so having varied lengths in lawns is a more natural state and benefits the many variations of plant and animal life.
In Sunrise Park we leave the land to fully wild its meadows year-round without any human intervention or natural grazing animals. The result in this south-east facing small safari park is explosive, with wild grasses up to your knees from May to October. Natural wildflowers abound throughout. The resultant impact on insects, butterflies and small mammals is quite powerful.
And nearby Dawlish Park has 20 acres of pure wild meadows and a further 25 acres of silvo-pasture. A small number of Black Fallow deer and Badger Faces keep the 75 acre rewilding safari park in shape. At the height of the summer, the smaller Badger Face females and their young practically disappear under the height of the wild grasses. They use a network of deer paths to keep them in line!
Participating in No Mow May is an easy first step for individuals who want to contribute to a larger, interconnected network of mini-reserves, each playing a role in the regional ecological network. The initiative serves as an entry point to understand and engage with the principles of rewilding. But if you want to go further you can play more with your lawns. Vary the lengths of your grasses and mow intermittently/no more than monthly. This way you’ll be restoring natural habitats and promoting biodiversity.
No Mow May is not just about letting lawns grow wild; it's about rethinking our relationship with nature and our role in the local ecosystem. It offers a simple, yet effective way for anyone to contribute to environmental conservation and can lay the groundwork for more extensive rewilding efforts. As we learn from projects like those at LettsSafari even small changes in land management can accumulate significant environmental benefits and foster a deeper connection with the natural world around us.
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