The Importance of Grasslands

The importance of grasslands for wildlife

Grasslands cover around 40% of Oxfordshire, and form an important part of our county’s biodiverse landscape, providing benefits for wildlife and people alike.

Established grasslands such as hay meadows in the UK often support high levels of biodiversity, including rare or less common plants, fungi, farmland birds and invertebrates. There are some plant species that occur almost exclusively in unimproved grasslands, including;

They also provide habitats for invertebrates to safely breed and shelter in, and allow safe travel across an increasingly urban landscape. Grassland road verges are importance habitat corridors for a wide range of native flora and fauna species. The form a key part of habitat mosaics, where scrub, freshwater habitats and woodland develop within and alongside each other, forming particularly valuable habitat for our native species.
Grasslands are often important foraging resources for pollinators - even improved grasslands with low species diversity will typically have species such as clover, buttercup and daisies for bees, wasps and other invertebrates to feed on. They also act as foraging habitat for larger species such as birds, badgers and hedgehogs.

What is unimproved grassland?
'Unimproved grassland' is a term that was originally used within the farming sector. it refers to grassland that has not had chemical fertilizer added to the land i.e. it has not been improved for agriculture. This means that unimproved grasslands are usually more biodiverse and better for wildlife than improved grassland.

Ecosystem services

“Globally, studies have suggested that 2.3-7.3 billion tons of CO2 equivalents per year could be sequestered through grassland diversity restoration.”  Plantlife

Grasslands not only have benefits for wildlife but also deliver additional benefits to people – these are ‘ecosystem services’. Grassland ecosystem services include;
• Agricultural food provision - improved (fertilised) grassland acts as a food source for our livestock
• Carbon sinks – UK grassland soils sequester on average 242 kg of carbon per hectare per year
• Recreation - Accessible grassland provides opportunities for sport and other recreational activities such as walking, cycling, running, picnicking, camping, boating, playing or just relaxing
• Flood protection – diverse grasslands in particular can reduce surface runoff and the extent of flooding through soil infiltration and physical slowing of water flow
• Erosion protection – grassland vegetation stabilises our soil against erosion and mass wastage by protecting the soil from the erosive power of rainfall and overland flow, trapping sediment, and binding soil particles together with roots
• Water quality regulation – grasslands allow polluted water infiltration into the ground, allowing nitrates and phosphates to be filtered out by the soil and preventing the pollution of watercourses

What we've lost

The protection and restoration of our grasslands is an important part of Nature's recovery. Staggeringly, we have lost a vast number of wildflower-rich grasslands across the UK, and as such, they have become one of the nation's rarest habitats.

“‘Wildflower meadows are one of the rarest habitats in the UK and we have lost 97% in 90 years.”  The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

The 2023 State of Nature Report found that ‘vascular plant distributions have declined on average by 23% since the 1930s’. Included within this group, are plants adapted to low fertility conditions and low competition, such as those found within unimproved meadows.

However, many groups across the UK are taking action to restore grasslands. Scroll down to discover what's happening in Oxfordshire.

The importance of grasslands in Oxfordshire

As well as being biodiversity ‘hotspots’ and having a fascinating history, many of Oxfordshire’s long established, or restored lowland meadows, are accessible to members of the public and wonderful places to visit at this time of year.  

The historic floodplain meadows around Oxford include Oxford Meadows Special Area of Conservation (SAC), which is recognised as supporting vegetation communities which are ‘perhaps unique in the World’ in the selection criteria for designation and reflects the importance of continuing the traditional management that has been undertaken within these fields for centuries.

Action in Oxfordshire

In Oxfordshire, there are various projects and initiatives working towards restoring and protecting grasslands. These include:
• The Big chalk project - various projects
• The Thames Valley Wildflower Meadow Project (Long Mead Wildlife Site)
• Floodplain Meadow Restoration Partnership - various projects
• The Evenlode Catchment Partnership - Floodplain restoration and biodiversity projects
• BBOWT - Chimney meadows floodplain restoration
• PlantLife - saving England's lowland Juniper across Oxfordshire and Wiltshire