Wildflower Meadows project wins award

Head Gardener, Lucille Savin, is delighted to report that the Thames Valley Wildflower Meadow Restoration Project (TVWMRP) has won the 2025 Oxford Climate Award for Biodiversity and Ecology. Merton's Wildflower Meadows Restoration Project is one of many areas along the course of the Cherwell that makes up the TVWMRP. Restoration of Merton’s wildflower meadows, generously funded by donors, has been ongoing since 2020.  

Head of TVWMRP, Catriona Bass, said of receiving the award, 

“It is wonderful to spotlight the plight of our floodplain meadows [and celebrate the] network of individuals & organisations who have come together to create a nature recovery network of this critically endangered habitat.”

Wildflower meadows support a multitude of wildlife and support flora and fauna that struggle to survive in other habitats. They are particularly effective at sequestering carbon, as species have varying root depths which can take carbon down to 1½ metres below ground, where it is locked  whilst the soil is left undisturbed.

Restoration work on the Merton meadows has included methods such as bringing sheep on to the meadows for specific periods in the year to keep the grass from overcoming other plant species. Another initial intervention was to oversow the meadow with ‘green hay’ from a local donor meadow, which includes seed such as yellow rattle, a plant that is semi-parasitic on grass. This reduces the vigour of the grasses, giving more space for the wildflowers.

The meadows have seen an increase in richness and abundance of wildflowers; this diversity will change annually according to weather patterns, as meadows are good at adapting to climate change and the predicted anthropogenic global warming.