Monitoring the benefits of cattle grazing on Stocker’s Lake Meadows

You may know that the reason we have cattle on the reserve during the summer is to stimulate long term wildflower growth. For further information please see this short video. So to monitor the long term effectiveness of having the cattle there we now survey the meadows concerned for wildflowers

Between April and September of this year our FoSL Wildflower surveyors completed another year of surveying Meadows 2 and 3.  Unfortunately, there are currently not enough volunteers to survey Meadow 1.  The Dexter cattle usually graze on the three Meadows from April until October.

FoSL Wildflower surveyors enjoying a coffee at Café in the Park to celebrate the end of Year 2 of surveying the Meadows

2023 was Year 2 and we are slowly building up a history.  However, it will take a good few years before seeing any significant changes.  Having said that, this year there has been slightly more bare earth showing, which should allow flower seeds to spread/settle and start to grow. The information collected is forwarded to Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust to be logged and will provide a picture of any changes as the years progress.  In the future, for those who are interested, we expect to publish the results on the FoSL website also.

We have only a small band of dedicated volunteers which unfortunately allows us to survey only Meadows 2 and 3.  Meadow 1 has not yet been surveyed.  Having additional volunteers would allow Meadow 1 to become part of the survey and also give the team more flexibility when someone can't make it.  We meet on the last Wednesday of the month (April to September inclusive) at 10am and are usually finished by 12-12.30.

If you have some knowledge of wildflowers and are interested in becoming part of this project, please contact Linda Ascroft, Events Organiser (email Lindajascroft@gmail.com)