Hay meadow in theYorkshire Dales National Park
Hay meadows are traditionally cleared of stock at the beginning of the growing season, usually during May in the Yorkshire Dales. They receive only light dressings of manure and occasional liming. They are cut for hay in July or occasionally August. The hay is used by farmers as winter food for stock. These hay meadows are colourful wildlife havens, supporting a wide variety of plants and animals. They occur on soils which are neither markedly acid nor calcareous - the neutral grasslands.
The crane's-bill meadows are some of the least agriculturally improved of the meadows in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. They are the typically northern upland hay meadows associated with the cool, wet climate and growing season of the Pennine Dales and are now largely restricted to Wensleydale and Swaledale. Other typical species of these meadows are sweet vernal-grass, pignut, red fescue, Yorkshire fog, meadow buttercup, common sorrel and lady's mantle. Less common species are common spotted-orchid, bistort, melancholy thistle and globeflower. Crane’s-bill meadows are nationally and internationally important. Upland hay meadows are of very high biodiversity importance. Consequently, this habitat continues to be listed on the UK list of priority habitats for biodiversity action.
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