Ongoing Care and Maintenance

The Parish Council has taken on the long-term management of these meadow areas to ensure their success. To mimic the traditional meadow cycle:

• The meadows will be topped in early spring to encourage healthy growth.

• A full cut-and-collect of the meadow hay will take place each September, funded by the Parish Council.

• To make the meadows accessible to everyone, mown pathways will be maintained throughout the summer, allowing residents to walk through and enjoy these peaceful spaces.

 

We hope these new wildflower meadows will become a cherished feature of our parish, providing a haven for wildlife and a beautiful, tranquil space for all to enjoy.

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Year One (2025)

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It’s been a year since the network of meadows in Cranage were restored by Cheshire Wildlife Trust using wildflower seed harvested locally.  Despite all of the meadows being sown with the same seed we’ve seen quite a range of results with some being more successful than others but overall all the areas showed an increase in number of species and a boost for nature which is brilliant. 

The orchard meadow on Middlewich Road has done really well and already has a number of indicator species including ox eye daisy, knapweed and the all important yellow rattle yellow as well as finer, meadow grasses and other species such as cats-ear, common sorrel and ribwort plantain.

The damper area in the woodland to the north of Needham drive was a sea of yellow rattle and self heal during June, which gave a huge boost of nectar to local pollinators. The yellow rattle also established well in the area north of the football pitch as well as supporting red clover, plantain and an array of finer grasses. The yellow rattle is really important in the first few years as it will help supress the more vigorous grasses, giving the finer flowers space to thrive. The area to the south didn’t take so well and we will be revisiting this to top it up with some more yellow rattle this September. 

We saw evidence of the plugs planted last year in the smaller areas either side of Needham drive. Patches of knapweed, ox eye daisy, betony, self heal and birds foot trefoil were all present as well as allowing some broad-leaved helleborines to pop up unexpectedly, which must have been sitting dormant in the soil.

 

Our local volunteer group met each Monday over the summer months and have done a great job of controlling the weeds; pulling up, digging out and cutting off dock and thistle before they have had the chance to go to seed. Their efforts have made a huge difference to the ongoing success of the meadows and also their visual appeal. 

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The hay cut was taken from the meadows during September. This process knocks the seed out, adding to the diversity and also by removing the cuttings reduces the nutrient levels, helping the wildflowers.

Sometimes wildflower meadows take a couple of years to get going, and whilst they may not yet be bursting with flower, they are still massively beneficial to native wildlife compared to how they were previously. 

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There were two planting sessions to top up the meadows at the end of the season - Cheshire Wildlife Trust supplied and planted 2500 plug plants which were planted across the 5 meadow areas around Needham Drive.  Species included Yellow Rattle, Birdfoot trefoil, Betony, Autumn Hawkbit, Red Campion and Ox-eye Daisy.  We are grateful to our local volunteers, again,  who helped to plant these plugs and we look forward to seeing the plants growing next year.

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With the right management the Meadow areas will get better every year. 

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