Verge habitat management

Managing verges

“Verges that can accommodate a mix of open grassland areas, scrub and woodland will support the greatest diversity of species.” PlantLife

Cut and collect

Why do we cut and collect?
Due to the way species rich grasslands and meadows have been managed, historically and to this day, to obtain a species rich verge, with high floral biodiversity, it is essential to cut back the growth and collect the cuttings. The timing that both of these activities are done is crucial to proper management and will depend on what floral mix you have.
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“Achieving low soil fertility is key to enhancing the wildlife value of a species rich wildflower verge and reducing the management burdens” PlantLife

Always collect cuttings to prevent the soil fertility from increasing. High soil fertility will spoil your wildflower verge. By removing the cuttings ( traditionally done for making hay or silege), there is no compost / humus layer which means that this can’t rot down and increase the nutrient content of the soil. It also allows lots of light gets to soil layer and many of the flowers need light, they don’t like to be buried like most of our garden species, and need bare soil patches to germinate.

Oxfordshire has 35 Road Verge Nature Reserves (RVNR), managed by Oxfordshire County Council’s Highways and Transport Team. They are cut every year to maintain their species diversity .  

As a general rule...
Cut once or twice a year depending on how dominating the grass is. Cut twice in early spring and early summer if there is a lot of grass smothering the other plants. Cut once in late summer if there is a balanced mix if you’re managing it as a meadow habitat. However, there are other options so make sure you know what species are there and look through the PlantLife guide or get in touch if you need help.

There isn't a magical one-size-fits-all solution
All verges and species mixes are different which means that what is good management for one may not be right for another. For example, if a verge is full of lower-flowering species, such as bird’s-foot trefoil, selfheal, clovers, creeping cinquefoil and dandelions and the verge is mown fairly regularly, this is great as it is and may only need to be cut a little less frequently. These species can be shaded out by taller vegetation so mowing does help these species thrive. Therefore, variety in a verge is key and a balance of shorter and longer grassland areas is good. This balance is also needed when considering the road safety as well as the aesthetics.
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What to do with the cuttings?
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• A contractor with machinery can take it away
• Volunteers take arisings away for home composting on small areas
• Sacrifice verge areas or field corner as dedicated arisings sites, which can create habitat piles for reptiles and insects.

‍Although there is machinery that cuts longer grass and collects arisings, not all community groups have access to these. For effective manual disposal there appear to be two options:

a) Volunteers take arisings away - for home composting or taken to council sites, following the guidelines as to what can be disposed of and where

b) Sacrificing areas: Leaving larger amounts of waste in public view can encourage fly tipping and dry grass piles can attract anti-social behavior in summer months so the choice of location will need to be carefully considered – sometimes landowners will offer a section of their land to be used for this purpose.

Enhancing the variety of plants – sowing and plug planting

Other management options may be considered, such as enhancing a verge with seed or by using plant plugs. It is important to survey the verge first to assess current botanical interest.  Planting may be a good option for a new verge, or one previously managed as an amenity area where there isn’t a nearby seed source. Planting should be suitable to the local area and soil type. Many mixes contain seed from non-UK species or those of continental provenance, and therefore a mix needs to be chosen very carefully due to the risk of spreading to neighbouring land or cross-breeding with native flora.