Making meadows at Martin Mere near Southport

At WWT Martin Mere, the nature reserve is currently awash with colour. The orchids are just starting to go over, but you can see the bright purple of the knapweeds, white waving heads of the meadowsweet and hear the seed pods rattling on the yellow rattle.

Our nature reserve is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and one of the designated features is a plant called the whorled caraway. It's a short white flower and only used to grow in front of the United Utilities hide. To establish the plant elsewhere, we’ve been using the cows and hay cutting and then spreading the seed. Now, you can find it growing in every field, protecting it from disappearing.

We are doing lots of work this year to encourage the reserve's flower-rich meadows to spread into the grounds and nature trail so that everyone can experience the amazing displays. We achieve this through green hay, which is harvested from wildflowers and grasses. We get our green hay from cutting patches of meadows on the reserve, and then we rake up and spread the hay (within one hour of curing) onto the patches we want to turn into flower-rich meadows. We'll do this several times throughout July and August to capture several species seeding. The yellow rattle and southern marsh-orchids are seeding now, the whorled caraway and knapweeds will seed at the end of July, and the devil's-bit scabious won't seed until the end of August.

Creating these flower-rich meadows throughout the grounds and along the nature trail will create a stunning display of colours and provide nectar for butterflies, bees and other insects, thanks to the variety of flowers. In turn, this will provide lots of food for birds and bats in these areas.

You can create your own wildflower patch in your garden and attract various wildlife! Try leaving some areas unmown throughout May and June; then, when you cut these areas, pop them in your compost heap. Stripping the area of nutrients will provide the perfect conditions for the wildflowers and herbs. If you want to speed up the process, green hay or seeds are great options.

Enjoy our nature reserve, wild walk, and reedbed walk over the summer and see the breathtaking meadows yourself!