If you’re a gardener with a lawn like Wembley then the thought of not mowing your lawn for a whole month probably fills you with terror.
But spare a thought for the wildlife whose habitats are disturbed every time you run the lawn-mower around the garden.
No Mow May was introduced to give nature the opportunity to take its course and for us to see just how much wildlife appears when it does.
At the onset of the growing season, hungry and recently emerged native bees face a critical period. In urban and suburban areas, it may be challenging for them to locate floral resources.
However, you can assist your bee neighbours in thriving by allowing your lawn to grow for a more extended period, letting the flowers blossom, which provides pollinators with nectar and pollen.
In North East Lincolnshire, wildlife habitats have been introduced to support nature. We have specific areas across the borough where the grass is longer and wildflowers are growing, and once the flowers are given a free reign they create areas of truly outstanding natural beauty. Look out now for primroses, bluebells and cowslips.
In 2016, staff from the Ecology and Grounds Maintenance Teams started sowing wildflower seeds along grass verges in areas including the A46 Laceby Road and Mathew Ford Way
They sowed a mixture of annual, biennial, and perennial seeds, which add diversity to the roadside verges and mean each season has a different appearance. Grass cutting was scaled back on the seeded verges to allow the new plants to flourish.
As well as seeding, some areas were left to grow and develop naturally to see what plants were already there. This way, the plants that grow are the plants native to the area and well adapted to the local conditions. As a former railway bank, Peaks Parkway was left to regenerate naturally, along with Kings Road and the Boating Lake banks.
North East Lincolnshire Council also worked with a local community group to help them to sow and manage wildflower seeds on the verge at Stallingborough roundabout.
Reducing the frequency of mowing your own lawn establishes a natural habitat, which, in turn, can enhance the diversity and abundance of wildlife, including bees and other pollinators. As an added benefit, letting your grass grow longer can lead to needing to water your lawn less!
We don’t expect you to do it forever, but pull out a lawn chair and watch the grass grow for just a month and you will see the benefits. You could even just leave a patch unmown and see what develops.
Here’s where to see the wildflower areas in North East Lincolnshire, where mowing is restricted to allow wildflowers to grow and nature to take its course.
- A16 Peaks Parkway
- Cleethorpes Boating Lake railway banks
- Cleethorpes Boating Lake SSSI
- Scartho Road cemetery
- Hewitt’s Belvoir woodland copse
- Kings Road, opposite Meridian Showground
- Patrick Street walk-through to People’s Park
- Martin Wragg Way
- Weelsby Avenue
- Mathew Ford Way
- Louth Road verge
- A46 Laceby Road
- Ainslie Street Park
- Cleethorpes Country Park
- Cleethorpes Sand Dunes SSSI
- Haverstoe Park Wildlife Area
- Laceby Beck
- West Marsh Country Park
- Grant Thorold Park
- People’s Park north east entrance
- Stallingborough roundabout – paid for by the community
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