College commits to managing meadows for both biodiversity and leisure
We have recently begun to actively manage Music Meadow and Great Meadow, the area next to the college's playing fields over by St Catherine's College. Our Head Gardener, Lucille Savin, explains:
"Over the past two decades, renewed interest in wildflower habitats has grown, with concerns for biodiversity protection and augmentation. Coupled with this, flowering species add a changing palate of colour to the urban environment and are typically exceptionally attractive. Opportunities for education and recreation abound.
"We have begun a long-term commitment to managing Music Meadow and Great Meadow for their floral diversity and visual impact. The soil here is already of low nutrient level, which is beneficial as it prevents perennial flower species being out-competed by grasses. An annual hay cut will also help to keep fertility down and prevent colonisation by tree seedlings, brambles and other less desirable plants.
"A wildflower meadow is in itself a complete ecosystem, providing food for a wide range of wildlife, which we hope people can enjoy for decades to come.
"Furthermore, to augment the meadow we are planning to plant a small copse of Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris), a native evergreen excellent for wildlife. Birds such as siskins, great spotted woodpeckers and crested tits use them as a food source, and the horizontal branches make excellent nesting places. Lichens grow in the cracks on the trunk, which are also home to many insects. Over the course of its 300-year lifespan the copse will enhance the meadow with its distinctive silhouette of straight trunks topped by wind-moulded horizontal branches, typical of Lancelot 'Capability' Brown's landscape style."
