Grass cutting - the unkindest cut?

Lovely beach ....empty ocean.

I don’t know if any of you watched the recent BBC series about the Indian Ocean presented by  Simon Reeve?  It was a tonic to see the lovely beaches and blue sea while the British summer rain lashed against the windows and we threw another log on the fire.   

 However, as well as showing some great scenery,  the series had a stark message for us all.  Pressure from population growth on the shores of the Ocean is leading to the destruction of habitat both at sea and on land, and no-one seems able to do much about it.  Fish stocks in many of the countries that Simon Reeve visited are now at very low levels and the livelihood of fisherman and coastal communities are threatened. A stark warning that lack of concern about other species does affect the human condition!

The same destruction of habitat is going on here, right under our noses, and the good thing is that we can actually do something about it!

Unfortunately initiatives aimed at protecting biodiversity are not always welcome, and in fact there was some excitement about Babergh's activity in this area last week.

Complaints were expressed in the Free Press that Babergh’s contractors have deliberately left some areas of grass uncut under trees in Long Melford.  Some residents find this untidy and uncivilized, but actually Babergh is doing the right thing and I am one hundred percent behind our horticulturalists’ initiative.

As our local conservation expert George Millins wrote to me recently:

‘The ecological devaluation of grassland by close mowing, reducing it to a pretty lifeless green desert, has a much wider impact on wildlife than just eradicating butterflies, moths and bees. The resulting lack of grassland fauna has a serious knock on effect for birds, amphibians, reptiles, hedgehogs - now a BAP species, badgers and foxes.’

Babergh’s officers take the same line as George, commenting:

'Ample scientific research has confirmed that long grass really does help a wide variety of insect species, which then feeds a multitude of birds, reptiles and small mammals. 

Some of these then go on to provide food for our top bird predators such as sparrow hawks, kestrels, red kites and buzzards as well as top predator mammals such as foxes (and cats).

No less than ten of the 30 butterfly species commonly found in Suffolk require long grass for feeding, breeding and overwintering:

It is important to re-set our minds on what is acceptable and appreciate the difference between a pest-free orderly garden and wildlife friendly grassland. 

Over enthusiastic mowing is bad for us!

We need to be aware of how much damage we human beings do to other species in the name of perceived good order.  If we groom and polish everything to excess, down the road we will find that the environment, on which we too depend for existence, is a less comfortable place to live.  Indeed by ignoring the chain of life on the planet we could be promoting our own ultimate extinction!

  

So come on everyone; tolerate a little untidiness for the sake of our own long term viability.

George Millins has offered to talk to Parish Councils who are interested in reducing the number of ‘cuts’ inflicted on our green areas, and also taking other measures to promote biodiversity.  I hope that this offer will be taken up!

The link here gives more information about initiatives across the whole of Suffolk.