05/10/2026
You may have noticed that our meadow has just had its autumn haircut, ready to put it to bed for winter. We have followed broadly this timeline for many years now, with tweaks as needed here and there.
Our project has lots of different areas to create different habitats for all kinds of wildlife, including invertebrates, insects, small mammals and birds. The grass meadow areas provide homes to many different species, with permanent refuge areas of long grass for year round habitats and other areas that are periodically or permanently mown short.
Permanent shorter areas provide habitat for different plants and bugs, whilst areas where the grass is initially mown short and the cuttings simultaneously removed have lower nutrient levels, allowing perennial and annual wildflower species to proliferate during the period when that particular area is allowed to grow long.
The lower meadow is an area we have been proactively working on to promote wildflower growth, through the planting/sowing of yellow rattle (a grass parasite) and the addition of perennial wildflower mixes. This area has a slightly different mowing and cutting removal regime, to keep nutrient levels lower than the main and upper meadow areas.
Over the next year, you will see slightly larger sections of short grass as the recent hot dry summers have been very kind to creeping thistle species and these need to be kept in check.
The mowing schedules may also be tweaked depending on how wet and dry the spring and summer months are in particular years. For example, if the weather is cooler and wetter, the cuts will be later to allow wildflowers to complete their life cycles. If the summer is extremely hot and dry, with very fast grass growth, the cuts will be brought forward to reduce wildfire risks.
We are extremely pleased to work so closely with Devizes Town Council and the grounds team on the project, as it’s not always easy to strike the right balance between providing space for nature in a place for people. The grounds team are incredibly knowledgeable and supportive with developing an appropriate management plan that keeps everyone happy, whilst being achievable for the council and their equipment. We are also very thankful to the local farmer who takes our cuttings to be ploughed back into the soil, significantly reducing the carbon cost of transporting cuttings any further for composting.
And we are so very grateful to every passerby who stops to chat to us with a kind word or suggestion whenever we are out volunteering!
Lastly, although the term rewilding frequently gets talked about, we would like to state that although our aim is to boost biodiversity in the area, we are not a rewilding project. Quakers Walk Meadow is a well used amenity area, with plenty of places to walk, play and explore the nature that also calls this space home.
If you would like to get more involved in the volunteering side of the project, at either the gardening or committee level, please message the page or email [email protected]
Our committee is made up entirely of volunteers and any new plantings, tools and community sessions are all funded through generous donations, events such as bat walks and grants.
