wildflower meadow

callywally

Not really a money saving question but does anyone know the rules on a farmer ploughing up a wildflower meadow?
some land near me may be ploughed up in the autumn and it seems a shame as it is full of wildflowers and butterflies as well as lots of birds and wild life. I would hate it to be ploughed up and wonder if there are any rules and regulations on the landowner doing this.
any one any idea please.

callywally

any one know anything about this

Zazen999

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/sciencenews/3294402/Schemes-failing-to-save-wildflower-meadows.html

It appears not.

Perhaps try and contact some of the organisations in the link to see if there is anything you can do.

greenbee

It may be that the meadow was setaside, and that the farmer is now obliged to plough it up. It might be worth talking to your neighbours or the parish council to understand whether this is farmland or not before getting too involved.

If it is setaside that has now reverted to cultivated land, speak to the farmer about where the setaside is this year, make sure you are complimentary about the wildflowers (farmers use wildflower seed to boost the natural flora, as it has quite often be depleted by intensive farming over the years), and ask whether they have set up any permissive paths to allow you access so that you can appreciate the efforts that are being made to improve your local countryside!

Fire_Fox

You may be able to prevent it if you can find any rare or protected species in the meadow. Bit of a long shot and a lot of work tho.

HelenYorkshire

Might be worth a look at Natural England's website - there are schemes (Stewardships - ELS and HLS) that reward landowners for agreed things eg leaving hedges in, leaving fields as meadows, so on and so forth.

callywally

Thanks for replys have been looking it to this and it seems that there are rules that landowners have to go by.

A_fiend_for_life

Not sure how it might help but how long has it been a meadow for?

Beekeeping might be another option. They're in a sorry state at the moment and English honey is at a high price as a consequence. Own brand honey?

Any local beekeepers or info on the library noticeboards? They're also likely to be knowledgeable on other flora and fauna too.

crankydame

callywally wrote: »

Thanks for replys have been looking it to this and it seems that there are rules that landowners have to go by.

Please try to remember that most landowners are also farmers trying to make a living! They need to rotate their crops annually so maybe he needed this piece of land for his rotation. The countryside is not just there to look pretty and if it were not for farmers it would be in a pretty grim state. LEAF (linking environment and Farming) is a great organisation which many farmers are members of and LEAF promotes such ideas as wild flower meadows BUT a farm has to be viable first and foremost and I am sure if the farmer didn't NEED that piece of land he wouldn't have ploughed it up.