When you are starting out on your botanical journey with the Monmouthshire Meadows Group, you may well have a survey from one of our tireless and absolutely dedicated botanists. The results will include a brief description of your land, a species list, and some management recommendations.
The majority of our members’ meadows are semi-improved neutral grassland. In the context of haymeadows, ‘improved’ means agriculturally-improved by the ploughing and reseeding with rye grasses; drainage; and/or addition of fertilisers. Semi-improved or unimproved grassland has been managed over centuries by hay-making or low-intensity grazing, which has enabled a wide variety of grasses, sedges and flowering plants to flourish. For this reason it may also be called species-rich or semi-natural grassland. The soil is neither acid (acid grassland) nor alkaline (calcareous grassland). Often there will be small areas of damper or marshy ground, which allow for different plants to flourish.
When you receive your survey results, the species list will likely include some of the fine grasses characteristic of semi-improved neutral grassland:
You will also see some plants in bold type. These are the ‘Indicator species’ of unimproved grassland – that is, land that has not been seeded, fertilised or drained. The more indicator species you have, the better the value of your land to wildlife. If you are lucky enough to find 8 or more Indicator species, you may be asked if you wish your grassland to be put forward as a [Local Wildlife Site]( https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife/protected-areas/local-wildlife-sites).
The list of indicator species relevant to South Wales grasslands was agreed in 2004 by The South Wales Wildlife Sites Partnership, which included representatives from Gwent Wildlife Trust; experts in ecology, plants, bats, birds, butterflies; and many others. The full document lists over 100 plants which are indicator species for neutral grassland.
MMG has been surveying grassland since 2003, and we have a wealth of data going back over 2 decades. A brief look at this along with some of our more recent surveys shows that the top 6 Indicator grasses, sedges and rushes found in Monmouthshire are:
In terms of other flowering plants, the most common Indicator species, found in around half of Monmouthshire grasslands, include:
Common Dog-Violet (Viola riviniana)
Some of these are included on the Gwent Wildlife Trust Indicator Wildflower Sheets. The others are illustrated below. If you are interested in learning a little more about the flowers in your fields, a good place to start is with these Indicator plants. You can find a lot more about each of these on the Plantlife website.
All new members of Monmouthshire Meadows Group are offered a free survey by one of our experts, so if you haven’t yet joined you can do so here.
Join us – together we can do our bit to reverse the decline in wildflower meadows and pastures .