Where drains have been used in the past these can be blocked. These will be important for lots of biodiversity including charismatic breeding ‘wading birds’ such as lapwing, snipe and curlew. Keep wet grasslands damp into July and August.Options might include not draining off naturally occurring floods too fast or using sluices and structures to move water around to create ‘splash’. Plan and manage to have enough water for ‘splash’ floods in the winter.Advice on managing wildflower rich meadows can be found in the links below.If your grassland is already filled with native wildflowers, protect them! Don’t reseed areas of wildflower meadows they are probably already really important as they are for all kinds of wildlife.Planting species such as clover naturally increase the nitrogen levels in your soil while also feeding our pollinators.It’s important to harvest the field as taking the crop off will reduce nutrient loading and encourage biodiversity. If you are growing for winter feed, consider hay (weather permitting) or even haylage rather than silage as that leaves a chance for more seed to remain on site, replenishing the seed bank and try to harvest as late as possible to allow flowers to set seed (at least until after mid-July, if possible early Autumn).Allow longer grass to grow near field boundaries or hedgerows to create nesting habitats for bumble bees.Having a diversity of grass lengths provides a variety of habitats for insects, birds and small mammals.Fence off or reduce stocking density in certain areas to let taller grass grow and for longer into the season.Going Further: Allow areas of long grass to grow Minimise or avoid chemical, including NPK fertilizers or pesticide use as this will damage the health of your soils by reducing their biodiversity.Avoid using heavy machinery on the soil in or after wet weather as this compacts the soil and damages its structure.Preventing overgrazing and poaching reduces open space in the grass sward for problematic weeds to colonise.Alternatively, reduce the grazing intensity by reducing your stocking density.Increase the time fields are left to rest between grazing to allow them to recover and regrow.Semi-natural grasslands are some of the most biodiverse habitats in Ireland.Īctions on the Farm Getting Started: Avoid overgrazing or poaching.Wet grasslands, say on floodplains, can provide really important feeding habitats for thousands of wild birds (eg ducks, geese and swan) that spend their winter in Ireland.Good soil structure in well-managed grasslands reduces waterlogging and the impacts of droughts.They provide a food source for many types of livestock and wildlife.Important functions of semi-natural grasslands include: Where they remain old hay meadows and semi-natural (or ‘more-natural’) grasslands have very high biodiversity and can be some of the most species rich habitats in Ireland’s farmland. As such, managing even 5-10% of your grasslands for biodiversity can make a huge difference to wildlife. Management plays a major role in how biodiverse our grasslands are. Historically, low intensity farming was very good for biodiversity however, agricultural intensification has led to widespread declines in biodiversity. Grasslands cover a large part of the Irish countryside depending on the underlying soils and geology they vary from freely draining and dry to waterlogged and poorly drained.