Grass management in South Swindon Parish

 Last spring and summer many grass verges were left uncut during the first Covid lockdown to the delight of many of us wanting to increase biodiversity and give insects some flowers to gather nectar from. Around Old Town, there were fabulous banks of flowers, particularly along Pipers Way where the wild carrot, among other things was magnificent. This year several areas have been identified where verges and areas of grass will be left without mowing them until August, to enable wild flowers and grasses to form seeds. With a very dry April, grass was slow to grow, so it was often difficult to distinguish between mown and unmown areas, however with large amounts of rain in May, we do now have lush growth of grass.

I took a photograph last week of the embankment beside Evelyn Street Bridge to show how lovely these uncut areas can look, and I'll follow up with lots more photographs over the next couple of months. This is what it looked like:

The following 9 areas have been identified as taking part in this scheme this year, with we hope more to follow when we see how this works. Areas within the orange lines will be left unmown until August. The first map shows the area between Marlborough Road and Marlborough Lane:

Other areas include Buckhurst Field

GWR Park

The Magic Roundabout

Pipers Way bank, on the right as you drive down the road from the golf club

This is Savernake St green open space by the play area

and Scotby Avenue or the grass in front of Lakeside where bee orchids have been spotted in the past

Areas around Shaftesbury Lake where we have also sown lots of wild flower seed on areas where some of the brambles were cut back. At the moment the geese seem to be keeping the vegetation very short.

and finally Sixth Field between Marlborough Road and Queens Drive near Coate Water

I've been round checking up on some of these areas today, and the grass is certainly growing in the near tropical conditions!!