Case for letting the grass grow under your feet

The passing on of an old farmer is always greeted with sadness, and Bill Hebron is still missed in the small community of Rosedale where he had farmed for over 40 years.

But his death last summer was also viewed with concern by those who love the landscape of the North York Moors.

His farm had been managed by time-honoured methods and there were worries that a new tenant would introduce modern practices or change the land’s use from haymeadow to grazing for horses or cattle.

This could alter the appearance of that part of the valley.

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Haymeadows are not as ubiquitous in the North York Moors National Park as they are across in the Yorkshire Dales, where they are a distinctive part of the scenery.

In the Moors they are less extensive and mostly scattered around the fringes. Bill Hebron’s haymeadow, therefore, was a comparatively rare habitat for wildflowers, insects, butterflies and birds. And it had to be saved.

In recent years, Bill had not allowed illness to keep him from getting out to maintain his hay crop in the usual manner.

He was often seen moving around his farm on a mobility scooter, although the wheels sometimes became seized up with grass.

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Despite his disability, though, he was determined to spot spray every last thistle in his meadow.

There are some fairly strict rules for managing meadows which were second nature to Bill.

No fertiliser was applied, because this encouraged grass species to grow which then suppressed and out-competed the flowering plants.

Also, any livestock grazing the land should be taken out in April to allow the plants to grown without the risk of having their flowering heads eaten off.

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Only in July, when all the plants have stopped flowering and set seed, should the field be cut.

But Bill died before last year’s hay was ready, and urgent action was required in the days before it was due for cutting.

If, as was feared, the two-acre meadow was going to be put to other uses by the new tenants, then seeds from the 2010 hay crop would have to be collected in the hope that a new meadow could be created elsewhere.

So with the blessing of Bill’s daughter, Hilary, the North York Moors National Park’s farm conservation advisor, Ami Walker, went round the field with a seed sucker - a kind of reverse leaf-blower with a collection bag on the end - to gather as many of the hay crop’s seeds as possible.

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Some of her colleagues helped by picking seeds from individual plants to create a stock of specific species types.       

Then, with the seasonal clock ticking away, the seeds were taken across Rosedale to Medds Farm and spread on a field of comparable size.

And now almost a year later the operation has been declared a success. With the help of Bill Hebron’s traditional meadow soon a hay crop will be taken from this field. 

Medds Farm is run organically by Kevin and Sue Atkinson. They keep goats as well as rare-breed pigs and sheep, and they jumped at the chance to have their own haymeadow.

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Says Kevin: “I remember going past Bill Hebron’s farm once and there was this really beautiful smell coming from his hay.

“It was almost like perfume. But the hay looked fantastic too. I think his traditional meadow was one of the things that made this valley a bit special.”

Before sowing the seeds Kevin had prepared the ground of a field between the farmhouse and the River Seven, which rises on Danby High Moor and flows through Rosedale.

He “ragged it up a bit” with a chain harrow, he says, to make sure there was plenty of bare earth for the seeds to take hold.

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Later on, he put in plug plants of some ox-eye daisies he had grown with seeds from Bill’s meadow.

A survey of Bill’s meadow had shown there were 36 different species of plants and concluded: “There is good species diversity across the whole field.

“Mr. Hebron obviously values this field and this shows in its management.”

The plant list included the “usual suspects” of a haymeadow: ribwort plantain, red clover and meadow buttercups.

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There were also interesting grasses like crested dogstail - the top of the stalk is flat on one side and rounded on the other, like a dog’s tail - and sweet vernel grass. The latter is what gives off the classic vanilla-like smell of new-mown hay.

A particularly interesting species is yellow rattle. It is also known as cockscomb, but the local name for it is “poverty” because it is semi parasitic on grasses and, therefore, subdues the grasses in any meadow.

Farmers in the North York Moors who want a high yield of grass from a field don’t get as much when there is “poverty” present.

But according the National Park’s Ami Walker it’s a good plant to have at the start of a haymeadow because by subduing the grasses it allows other plants to become established, ones that are required for a species-rich hay crop.

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Eyebright, for example, is now one of the mixture of herbaceous plants in the meadow, as is the much-valued pignut, a plant which is attractive to a small sooty-black moth appropriately named the chimney-sweeper.      

Says Ami: “It’s important to have a large variety of plants in a haymeadow rather than a wall-to-wall carpet of just one or two species.

“This provides a diversity of food plants for a wide range of insects, which then feed birds, as well as producing flowering plants for bumble bees and butterflies such as the meadow brown.”

Visitors wishing to enjoy the sight of a haymeadow in Rosedale could see Bill’s at close quarters from a path adjoining the popular route along the old Rosedale Ironstone Railway.

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There’s no public footpath at Kevin Atkinson’s new meadow, but a “public” haymeadow is being created this year.

This will be done using seed from Medds Farm in the churchyard of St Mary and St Laurence, Rosedale, which occupies the site of the former Rosedale Abbey.

The area in the graveyard earmarked for the creation of the meadow is where workers from the Rosedale ironstone mines are buried.

There are no gravestones here, as many of their hard-up families couldn’t afford to have one.

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It is being funded by a grant from the North York Moors, Coast and Hills LEADER Small Scale Enhancement Scheme.

Its coordinator Clair Shields says: “People can come here and see the rich variety of plants found in a haymeadow thanks to the seeds originally taken from Bill’s land.

“And children at the local primary school can come in and do survey work, while learning about this traditional way of farming.”

Ami Walker is interested in the biodiversity of the farmland in the North York Moors Grassland Fringe.

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This runs along the southern edge of the National Park and she is working towards linking up habitats to create wildlife corridors in the area.

If anyone from this area would like habitat management advice, or believe they have something of particular biodiversity interest on their land, contact Ami Walker at the National Park office.

Tel 01439 770657.

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