Design By Nature - Native Conservation Grade
Wildflower Seed Producer:
N8 Meadow. Co
Tipperary
This beautiful meadow will be destroyed due to
road widening project on the N8 Dublin to Cork road. DBN is saving seed and
plants from the meadow and will notify the landscape designers on the design and
build team planning the new section of the road, that the soil should be kept
set a side for re-spreading on the road side after the road way is built.
From early spring to late summer over 40 species of flower and 10 grasses blaze
and rejoice in full colour, there are fairies down in this meadow, as well as
Foxes, Badgers, Sparrow Hawks, Meadow Pipits, Frogs, Moths, Butterflies, Sky
Larks, and Shrews.
We will have to e careful not to over harvest the
seeds as they ripen, but as the road will pass through parts of the meadow we
will take as much as we can from the parts to be destroyed.
There are Orchids and loads of Salad Burnet, both species are uncommon in
such abundance in Hay meadows these days. DBN paid
the owner of the land for the seeds and discussed the care and how the seed rich
soil could be used on the road and in other parts of the field where the road
will not pass.
 The
meadow is full of Yellow Rattle, which we hand harvested in 2002 and will again
in 2003 before the road is built.
When your on your hands and knees picking seeds
you learn a lot when you see a meadow close up. The one is amazing for the
lack of grasses, the density of flowers was striking about 90% of the floor of
the meadow was herbs and not grasses.
Good News!
Kilkenny
County Council and the road designers and landscape consultancy planning
the road have been notified by DBN as to the importance of this meadow. Since our intervention the road has been
moved north of the meadow. So the meadow is safe.
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