MS calls on Welsh councils to rethink grass cutting past No Mow May

Emily Price 

A Member of the Senedd has made a plea from an overgrown roadside verge in Denbighshire for Welsh councils to rethink grass cutting past No Mow May.

Labour MS Carolyn Thomas says putting the brakes on the mowers after the annual campaign that encourages people to refrain from mowing their lawns could help reverse decades of habitat loss.

Local authorities and organisations across Wales have allowed roundabouts, verges and green spaces to flourish throughout the last four weeks in a bid to restore native wildflowers and provide food for pollinators.

Allowing lawns and green spaces to grow lush and long also provides habitat for birds and mammals.

The scale and rate of biodiversity loss across Wales is accelerating.

Every third mouthful of food we eat has been created by pollination – without pollinators our food supply would collapse.

Decline

Half of the UK’s 27 bumblebee species are in decline, and of the 43 species of butterfly seen in Wales, 10 are in severe decline and 17 are declining.

These declines has been driven by climate change, pollution and pesticides, as well as changes in how land is managed.

Carolyn Thomas says local authorities need to rethink their approach to mowing and make bold, long-term commitments to transform how road verges and green spaces are managed.

She said: “Adopting new approaches to grassland management allows us to give biodiversity a boost while continuing to meet the needs of our communities.

“By treating road verges as wildlife corridors, we can combat the nature and climate crisis.”

Thoughtful

Lowland semi-natural grassland in Wales declined by an estimated 90% between the 1930s and 1990s.

The area covered by roadside verges across Wales is estimated to be over 15,000 hectares of land – around the size of Swansea.

Ms Thomas says that with thoughtful management, they could become one of Wales’ most extensive networks of wildflower-rich grassland.

Denbighshire County Council is making efforts to carefully manage its green spaces with biodiversity in mind.

Their pioneering roadside verge management project treats verges and urban green spaces as wildflower meadows.

The local authority collects seed from these sites and grows native plants in its own nursery, ensuring all new planting is locally sourced and ecologically sound.

The number of species increased from around 40 to 120 after just 4 years of management.

Welsh Government support has helped fund the project, which Ms Thomas says has become a model for others.

Only a handful of councils in Wales signed up to No Mow May this year.

Mark Schofield, Road Verges and Green Spaces Advisor at Plantlife said: “There may be reasons some local authorities feel compelled to mow in May.

“But if we’re serious about restoring native wildflowers, we need to move from short-term tidy-ups to long-term transformation.

“No Mow May is a great place to start — but leaving some open space unmown for longer can support the lifecycles of a huge diversity of wildlife that depend on less disturbed wildflower-rich grassland.

“If we approach it as different zones, some areas can be left as unmown sanctuaries, some can be managed more like a meadow with a late summer cut, while others can be kept shorter for amenity.”

Ms Thomas said her plea to pack away strimmers and mowers doesn’t just go out to local authorities – but to the general public too.

Around a third of people in Wales still mow their own lawns twice a month during the summer.

Mowing a lawn less not only saves time time – but also makes a big difference to Welsh wildlife.

Ms Thomas said: “We’re encouraging more people across Wales to help and connect with wildlife in their gardens by letting the wildflowers grow and being part of the No Mow Movement, starting in May and continuing through the summer.”

Join thousands of households, councils and organisations letting nature take the lead, letting No Mow May bloom into June.

For tips, resources, and how to sign up, visit here.