Create and Design a ‘Don’t Mow, Let It Grow’ Grass Head ‘Don’t Mow, Let It Grow’ want to encourage local children to experience the thrill of seeing something grow from seed, along with the enjoyment of creating their own ‘Grass Head’ character for a fun competition. “Don’t Mow, Let It Grow” is a three year pilot funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Landfill Communities Fund, working with Transport NI and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency. The “Don’t Mow, Let It Grow” message is simple. Small changes in management of grasslands, give large benefits to biodiversity and ecosystem … [Read more...] about Sowing the Seeds of Creativity

The Don’t Mow Let It Grow project team are saddened by the destruction of the beautiful verge at Garvagh. This verge has been successfully managed since 2013 in consultation with the local community for its wildflowers and insects, and has developed year on year with increased numbers of wildflowers including orchids and pollinator such as bumblebees and butterflies . This was not cut by Transport NI or the Council who are both partners in the Don’t Mow, Let It Grow  project. In fact this is the second time this year that it has been cut by an unknown individual/s and on this occasion … [Read more...] about Beautiful Garvagh Verge Ruined

As part of this project we are seeking the help of volunteers in many roles, one of which is a grassland surveyor. This will involve one visit per year to your selected grassland site to survey the plant and insect life you find there. This will only take an hour or two once a year if you have one site, but please feel free to adopt more! We will have approximately 30 – 40 grassland sites spread throughout the Council area that need a volunteer surveyor, so sign up and adopt your patch today! As part of this we are running our first volunteer survey training event on: Saturday 11th June, … [Read more...] about We need your help!

Northern Ireland's traditional flower-rich meadows (hay meadows/semi-natural grasslands) are unique because of our geography, climate and traditional management practices. They are an integral part of our cultural and natural heritage. Our meadows support more flowering plants than any other Northern Ireland habitat type. Because of the diversity of flowering plants they in turn support an array of pollinating insects including bees, butterflies and moths. True hay meadows have now largely disappeared because of major changes in agricultural practices but road verges and amenity open space … [Read more...] about Traditional flower-rich meadows

Don’t Mow, Let It Grow developed from a small Envision road verge pilot project in 2012/13 which looked at four verges in the Garvagh area. The selected verges were surveyed the plants recorded. The results were very impressive with verges containing 30 plus meadow plant species, and receiving good public support. This led to upscaling the pilot to a super Council wide project Don’t Mow Let It Grow. The project partners were able to secure a development grant for funding from Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) in 2015 to develop this pilot project and submit a delivery phase application. … [Read more...] about Don’t Mow, Let It Grow developed