Grassland
Most grasslands were originally man-made, created by tree felling and maintained by grazing. Over the years they have developed characteristic plant communities which are now of significant ecological importance. However, as technology advanced, farming methods changed and most grasslands were ‘improved’ to become more profitable.
Artificial fertilizers were added to the soil to promote crop growth, or to allow more animals to be grazed. Many sites were reseeded, either with crop plants or fast growing grasses such as ryegrass. The characteristic grassland plants cannot compete under these conditions and modern day fields are often of little value to wildlife.
Grasslands that are important from a nature conservation perspective are ‘semi-improved’ and ‘unimproved’ grasslands, which have had little or no treatment with artificial fertilizers or reseeding.
In County Durham one of the most important types of grassland is the chalky grassland found on the Magnesian Limestone plateau running through eastern County Durham. County Durham contains over half of the remaining Magnesian Limestone grassland in Britain, and it occurs on thin soils or steeps slopes, where farming has not been possible.
These grasslands are diverse communities with a large number of associated plants and insects. Blue moor-grass, which is nationally scarce is often dominant together with sheep’s fescue and common quaking-grass. During the early summer a wide variety of flowering plants turn these grasslands into a blaze of colour, including rarities such as basil thyme and dark red helleborine. These grasslands are also home to species such as bird’s-foot-trefoil, small scabious, kidney vetch, knapweed and rockrose. Rockrose is important as it is eaten by caterpillars of the Northern Brown Argus butterfly, which is restricted to the Magnesian Limestone grasslands of the north of England.
The most extensive grassland type in County Durham is acid grassland, which is found mainly in the west. On the poorest upland soils it is often species poor, dominated by mat grass with only a few of the hardiest shrubs such as bilberry managing to survive. In places where the soil is richer the acid grasslands are more diverse with sheep’s fescue, common bent and tormentil.
At lower altitudes the soil chemistry encourages the development of neutral grassland communities, including neutral wild flower meadows usually managed for hay. These meadows contain characteristic grasses such as red fescue, crested dog’s-tail and Yorkshire fog. There are a wide variety of associated wild flowers such as knapweed, ox-eye daisy, bird’s-foot-trefoil and salad burnet. Very few of these grasslands remain in County Durham and most neutral grassland is poor quality, found on road verges or railway embankments.
Another type of grassland community is known as marshy grassland, which encompasses a variety of damp low-lying communities. They are generally dominated by wetland species such as meadowsweet, sedges and rushes. These communities can occur on any soil type and can be floristically diverse supporting good invertebrate communities. Marshy grasslands with rushes are very good habitat for breeding birds, particularly waders such as lapwing, snipe and redshank.
If you want to learn more about specific grassland sites in County Durham, please visit these pages:
Bishop Middleham Quarry (Durham Wildlife Trust)
Little Wood Local Nature Reserve (Durham County Council)
Hannahs Meadow (Durham Wildlife Trust)
Hawthorn Dene and Meadow and Beacon Hill (Durham Wildlife Trust & National Trust)
Cassop Vale National Nature Reserve (Natural England)
Thrislington National Nature Reserve (Natural England & Lafarge)
Moorhouse Upper Teesdale National Nature Reserve (Natural England)
