Let's Talk Wildflowers

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You might not have realised it, but you are very likely living next to the some of the richest grasslands and heath lands in South Wales.

With its rich and diverse landscape, Rhondda Cynon Taf is not just rich in history, it is also filled with wonderful plants, fungi, insects and animals. From the Rhos pastures through to floodplains, there is a vast array of native wildflowers waiting to be discovered, and the grass in our parks, countryside sites, cemeteries, school grounds and road verges is no different.

Grasslands can play a major role in carbon storage and sequestration. That is the reason why managing them and preserving them is so important. In RCT, around 130 hectares of land is currently managed for wildflowers (10ha more than last year); that’s about 136 Millennium stadium pitches and we hope to add more to this next year.

We use two types of management: conservation grazing and a ‘hay cut’ method. In suitable areas, a small number of livestock, usually cows, graze the fields for part of the year. On road verges and parks the grass is cut in the autumn and the clippings are collected. The clippings are used to create habitat piles (‘eco piles’), which are later used by reptiles and small mammals. Where this is not possible the cut grass is be taken to our nearest green recycling centre.

Both types of management suit our wildflowers, allowing them to flower and set seed, and removing some of the competing and smothering grass. It is vital for us to preserve our native wildflowers and this is why we never use wildflower mixes or bee bombs on any of our sites. We want native wildflowers to come up naturally as they are fundamental for our native insects and wildlife and this can be done by just changing the way we manage our grass throughout the county borough.