Hay meadows project to be extended

The Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust’s Hay Time Project has been working across the Yorkshire Dales since 2006 and has helped to restore more than 160 hectares of hay meadows. The extension of the scheme into the area will involve harvesting seed from existing species rich meadows and spreading it on to a site that needs restoring.

This can be done either by using a seed harvester and spreading the seed directly onto the restoration site or by cutting green hay from an existing site and spreading it onto the restoration site before it dries – then as the hay dries the seeds fall introducing new species to the site.

As well as looking beautiful in mid-summer, traditional hay meadows are very special habitats and botanically rich, often with over 30 species of plant per square metre, and also provide an important habitat for a wide variety of wildlife. Hay meadows were once a common sight but changes in farming practice have led to a severe decline in their number.