A Cut Above the Rest! Glebe Meadow Update

The tractor of all tractors was seen cutting Glebe Meadow this week.

Ordinarily, TWiG (Tattenhall Wildlife Group) arrange to have the field cut in late August but it was later this year because of:

• an ongoing ecological survey being undertaken by one of our local residents as part of her MSc Thesis and which has focused on beetles, bumblebees and grasshoppers
• the extraordinarily hot and prolonged summer and then the onset of torrential rain

For newcomers to Tattenhall, this area of land is owned by the Parish Council and managed by TWiG (Tattenhall Wildlife Group) to enhance it's biodiversity value.

The Tattenhall Neighbourhood Plan identifies both Glebe Meadow and Barn Field as 'green spaces' and sites of nature conservation value.

The fields comprise 'unimproved grassland' – extremely rare in Cheshire and lowland Britain. They have never been subjected to intensive agriculture and, as a consequence, contain a flora and fauna of great diversity. Glebe Meadow, in particular, contains twenty three different species of grass and up to twenty species of wildflower. The annual butterfly count revealed that the grassland in Glebe Meadow provided suitable habitat for a significant number of small skipper butterflies – another uncommon species in Cheshire.

All of this has been achieved with the careful management of both fields over the past nine years or so -sometimes using cattle and, this year, having the field mown by a local contractor. This work was carried out under TWiG supervision and parts of Glebe Meadow were left uncut to benefit small skipper numbers and to allow their eggs and caterpillars to overwinter. On Barn Field, another section of the field was left uncut -- dominated by the vivid purple knapweed -- to provide an ongoing nectar source for bees, hoverflies and butterflies as Autumn approaches. In fact, we have decided to leave Barn Field for just a tad longer and in the hope that the ground is not too damp.

We continue to cut and/or set aside different sections of the area as part of an annual rotation.

Maintenance of the hedge which is adjacent to Glebe Meadow, remains the responsibility of the Parish Council.

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