Wilding Suffolk’s gardens and green spaces.

Are you wilding your lawn this year? If so, we’d love to see your Suffolk photos – what species have popped up? Any surprises? If you’re happy to share your photos and stories with us, please email them to comms@suffolkwildlifetrust.org. We’d love to use them on our website and in our member magazine, too. 

Why is letting your lawn grow wild so important for wildlife? 

We’ve lost a staggering 97% of our wildflower meadows in the UK over the last 70 years. This is a terrible loss, and much work is being done to conserve the meadows that remain while new sites are being identified and restored. Leaving road verges, wild spaces and lawns to grow wild can produce a surprising number of plant species, ones that provide vital pollen and nectar for insects. Insect populations are crashing all over the world due to widespread pesticide use, so every action that can help support them is vital. Your lawn really does count! 

In Suffolk, some of our councils are now leaving verges uncut, where it is safe, so that wildflowers, bees, butterflies and other insects can thrive.

Ideally, if you can leave areas of your garden or green spaces unmown throughout most of the year, with perhaps a spring / autumn cut, that's even better for wildlife.

What species might you see? 

Nature is amazing, and if lawns are encouraged to be a tapestry of species rather than a monoculture, you might be surprised as to what turns up. Garden lawns can resemble semi-natural grassland with flowering plants making a mosaic of low growing plants which are adapted to regular mowing or grazing. Cathy Smith, our wildlife gardening expert and Community Wildlife Adviser, takes a look at flowering lawns here.

We’d really love to see your photos – please share them with us and thanks for helping to make Suffolk so much better for wildlife. 

We cut and sometimes graze our meadows, so please don’t worry if you find them cut – it's a vital part of their management. We cut for hay when a good portion of seed has been set. The cuttings are sometimes used to ‘seed’ other meadows.