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Wildflowers amongst grass in a meadow

Wildflower meadow

Wildflower meadows are a rich and colourful habitat full of flowers and grasses. As man-made areas, they have been present in Britain for thousands of years, and are very much an identifying part of the UK's landscape and countryside. Wildflower meadows are 'unimproved'. They are not intensively farmed, but rather managed in traditional ways through activities such as grazing and hay-making. This promotes a very high diversity of wild plant species and stops grasses from taking over. The variety of flowers in turn attracts lots of insects and, of course, the creatures that feed on them.

See a summer's wildflower meadow spectacular.

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About Wildflower meadow

A meadow is a field vegetated primarily by grass and other non-woody plants (grassland). Meadows have ecological importance because their open, sunny areas attract a multitude of wildlife, and provide areas for nesting, food shelter, and courtship displays. In agriculture, a meadow is grassland which is not grazed by domestic livestock but rather allowed to grow unchecked in order to make hay. It may be naturally occurring or artificially created from cleared woodland.

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Habitats

Other Terrestrial habitats

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