Scything course on National Meadows Day

Today, events across the country have been celebrating our wildflower meadows and I had the pleasure of teaching a group of staff and public how to scythe at Marbury Country Park in Cheshire, funded by the Saltscape landscape partnership scheme and Heritage Lottery Fund.
After setting up the scythes and learning to sharpen, we went out into a fabulous meadow to mow a section that was inaccessible to machinery. Although the weather was threatening to turn we stayed dry cut a large area between us. While mowing, Dave spotted a bee orchid in the meadow and safely scythed around it. Cutting the grass with a scythe makes you so much more aware of the plants in your meadow so individual special plants are noticed and can be safely left intact. This was especially nice for me today as I’d never seen one of these flowers before.

The rangers plan to continue using scythes to manage this meadow so it continues to develop. It’s a lovely place that seems to be a hidden gem so if you’re in the area, go pay it a visit.