Kew Millennium Seedbank launches native flower project

Meadows and grasslands have long been in decline in England and Wales, with agriculture and human development destroying as much as 98 per cent since the 1930s.

The Kew Millennium Bank, one of the largest plant conservation projects in the world, was originally set up to work with groups in over 50 countries to protect plant life faced with extinction. Now, the experts there are turning their attention to growing plants native to this country, as part of efforts to increase the number and size of meadows. In particular, the UK Native Seed Hub will focus on species that are difficult to cultivate and may have been left out during previous enhancement programmes.

The work will be carried out in partnership with the High Weald Landscape Trust’s Weald Meadows Initiative, based in West Sussex.

Michael Way, head of the Millennium Seed Bank collecting team told Channel 4 News that changes in the landscape have left meadows broken into smaller areas, making it harder for wildlife to survive: “We have lost so much of our lowland meadows, that means the existing meadows have fragmented, so the wildlife and insect life that need these meadows are faced with an uncertain future. They don’t have the large space they need to move and breed. It’s a common problem where human development and agricultural improvements create islands where species are trapped.”

The Seed Hub will eventually support restoration efforts across all UK habitats. For the first year, a one hectare area of seed production beds, open to the public until the end of September, have been set up in the walled nursery at Wakehurst Place (see picture, above). They are home to ten native species, such as the cuckoo flower and devil’s bit scabious, both of which have proved difficult to cultivate for seed production in the past.

All pictures courtesy of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

The type of land that Kew and their partners hope to protect and increase is vital, Way says, for ecological reasons: “Grasslands are important because they store carbon in their soil. Around a third of the carbon in the terrestrial eco-systems in the UK is from this type of land. Species-rich traditionally managed grass lands are particularly effective at holding and locking up carbon. They are also very useful in flood plains, compared to areas of concrete. They allow water to slowly percolate through into the ground.”

Also of concern to conservationists are birds and insects that rely on diverse meadows. Sky larks and corncrakes frequent meadows alongside native pollenators such as bees and butterflies.

‘There is a really good lead being taken by motivated land owners and conservation groups’

Professor Stephen Hopper, Director at Kew said: “As the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership moves forward into it’s next decade, environmental challenges are becoming ever more acute. Not only is it now more critical than ever that seeds are stored at the Seed Bank, but it is also essential that we use the collection and our expertise to assist the restoration of lost habitats and the reintroduction of lost species to provide a better environment for future generations.”

The UK Biodiversity Action Plan lists 82 species of flowering plants of lowland grassland as threatened, along with 73 vertebrate and invertebrate species including birds, bats, butterflies and moths. But Michael Way is optimistic that the work being done now can bring significant changes to the size and number of this important land. He told Channel 4 News: ” There is a really good lead being taken by motivated land owners and conservation groups and we are trying to help that work happen faster and with all the species that are needed. There is lots of progress and we are already looking to the next habitat that will need our help – lowland heathlands. “