Lowland Wildlife Rich Grassland

Devon’s most wildlife rich grasslands support a huge range of plants and in the summer are full of colour and buzzing with insects. Plants provide critical food (leaves, seeds, pollen, nectar) for insects, birds and small mammals. The structure of grasslands is also important. Harvest mice weave nests in old tussocks; skylarks, hares and voles nest in long grass; some butterflies and moths lay their eggs on long grass (the caterpillar foodplant) and insects and newts shelter and overwinter in the base of tussocky grasses.   

Voles, moths, flies and beetles living in Devon’s grasslands in turn provide critical food for other wildlife such as birds (barn owls, kestrels and swallows) and bats. Grasslands, along with other habitats such as hedges, woodlands, watercourses and wetlands, form part of an interconnected network of habitats across the county.    

Management of wildlife-rich grasslands will vary but they generally require some light grazing from spring to autumn with some fields cut for hay in later summer. This prevents scrub, trees and dominant grasses from taking over but allows flowers to set seed. Animal dung helps to fertilise the grassland and provides a microhabitat for insects.

For 1,000s of years wildlife-rich grasslands dominated the Devon landscape. However, the majority have been lost due to changes in land use such as farming, housing, road schemes and recreation. The post-war drive to increase agricultural production led to the greatest losses with increased use of artificial fertilisers and slurry, regular ploughing and reseeding, increased cutting for silage production and greater herbicide use. This completely changed both the plant make-up and structure of grasslands, and critically the soils which support them. This loss of complexity led to a huge decline in their wildlife value.  

Most of Devon’s green fields and urban grasslands are currently not wildlife rich.    Remaining wildlife-rich grasslands are often small and fragmented and largely confined to steep slopes and wetter areas that are not easy to develop or worth improving for farming.  However, there is now a growing understanding of the many benefits of wildlife-rich grasslands and a move to restore and create them in urban and rural areas.  

The complex plant communities found in Devon’s wildlife rich grasslands vary hugely depending on physical factors such as soil pH, depth, nutrients, rainfall and management.   Soil pH can be used to divide plant communities into three main types: neutral, acid and calcareous, which are described below. These types can grade into each other as factors such as soil pH can vary within one field. Grasslands are complex!  

Wet grasslands and Coastal Floodplain and Grazing Marsh are covered on other pages. 

See Find out more below for links to information on the plant species mentioned.

Neutral grasslands  

These grasslands occur on free-draining soils across Devon with a pH of ~ 5.5 – 7.  

Lowland Meadow (UK priority habitat)

Pic        Lowland meadow is the most common species-rich grassland remaining across Devon. Small areas are often found on steep slopes which are not worth improving for farming. They are often found in wildlife rich mosaics with wetlands, scrub, woodlands. Characteristic grasses include crested dog’s tail and sweet vernal grass and flowers such a bird’s foot trefoil, black knapweed and yellow rattle. As Devon’s soils are generally slightly acidic, species such as devil’s bit scabious and pignut can occur.   Add examples of Devon Species of Conservation Concern when list complete.

Rough, tussocky permanent grasslands

Pic      Where grasslands are only very lightly managed or unmanaged species such as false oat grass and cock’s foot dominate, with rushes in wetter areas. Grasslands become tussocky, and many flowering species are unable to survive. While not rich in plant species, they’re important for small mammals and insects, providing a critical food source for birds such as barn owls and bats. They are widespread in Devon and found on areas of less intensively managed farmland (steep slopes, wetter areas) as well as along verges, paths, rivers, railway lines and field margins.   

[Add examples of Devon Species of Conservation Concern when list complete.]

More detailed information V 

See Habitat classification table for more details, including codes (MG5 etc) used below.  Also see Soils and Geology.

Link to UK HAB?  licence issues?

Lowland meadow   

Key species include grasses such as common bent, sweet vernal-grass, Yorkshire fog, crested dog’s tail, red fescue and flowers such as bird’s-foot trefoil, black knapweed, ribwort plantain, white and red clovers, meadow buttercup ,self-heal, field wood-rush, rough hawkbit, hay-rattle and quaking grass (MG5). Three sub communities occur on different soils:  

• Meadow vetchling community (MG5a) is found on neutral soils. Other characteristic species include corky-fruited water-dropwort, ox-eye daisy and perennial ryegrass.   

• Lady’s bedstraw community (MG5b) is found on deeper soils over limestone and support plants which like calcareous soils such as lady’s bedstraw and salad burnet.    The rare plant field eryngo occurs in this community in the Billacombe SSSI near Plymouth 

• Heath grass community (MG5c) is found on more acid soils and is the most common lowland meadow community in Devon. It can grade into wetland grassland (purple moor grass and rush pasture) in the Culm and Rhos pastures of north Devon, Dartmoor and the Blackdowns and grades into lowland dry acid grassland over free draining greensand in east Devon. Typical species include devil’s-bit scabious, betony, heath-grass, tormentil and pignut.  

Rough tussocky grasslands

Text to be added 

MG6b –rye-grass/crested dogs tail / sweet vernal grass variant – BUT also supports rare species…Dartmoor Hay Meadows

Lowland acid grasslands (UK priority habitat)

Pic     These grasslands are generally found on more acidic (pH less than 5.5) free-draining soils. They are an underappreciated and misunderstood grassland type, both in Devon and nationally, and frequently misidentified as species poor lowland meadow. Characteristic grasses include common bent and sweet vernal grass and flowers such as common cat’s ear, mouse-eared hawkweed and heath speedwell.  

The main locations for species rich lowland acid grasslands are:

• Above the wet mires on the east Devon greensand scarp slopes 
• The south-western and south-eastern edges of Dartmoor (around Roborough, Burrator reservoir and Trusham in the Teign Valley) on acidic mineral rich metamorphic rocks.  
• The small hay meadows around farms in Dartmoor valleys.  

There are also small areas of lowland acid communities in coastal grasslands and sand dune vegetation.  

The Dartmoor grasslands are more species rich, with rare plants such as the nationally threatened English eyebright. Plants identified as Focus Species have been put into three groups: south-west Dartmoor Downs, Dartmoor Enclosed Grasslands and Mid Teign Valley. Lowland acid grasslands also form important mosaics with bracken and scrub and support Focus Species such as high brown and pearl bordered fritillary butterflies whose caterpillars feed on violets in the grasslands.  They are also important for fungi, including waxcaps. Add more – bats etc

More detailed information V 

See the Habitat classification table for more details, including Codes codes (UF1) used below.  Also see Soils and Geology. 

The acid grasslands found on the East Devon freely draining greensand slopes are dominated by common bent and sweet vernal-grass with abundant Yorkshire fog, red fescue, ribwort plantain, sorrel, common cat’s ear, sheep’s sorrel, black knapweed, tormentil, bird’s-foot trefoil, mouse-eared hawkweed and heath speedwell. These grasslands grade into lowland meadow where soils become slightly deeper (Uf1) 

The south-west Dartmoor grasslands support similar species but are more species rich with common dog-violet, heath dog violet, lesser butterfly orchid and Vigurs’ eyebright. The nationally threatened English eyebright is frequent in these grasslands.  (U4a)    

Species decline with nutrient enrichment with white clover, yarrow and perennial rye-grass becoming more frequent.  However the nationally vulnerable chamomile can occur where grasslands are heavily grazed and poached (U4b / MG6).  

The Dartmoor Hay Meadows include species such as lady’s-mantles, moonwort, frog orchid, arctic eyebright, great burnet and greater butterfly-orchid (a particular feature of the central Dartmoor meadows).   ??

Lowland dry acid grasslands in the Teign Valley (Trusham, Ashton and Doddiscombsleigh) are amongst the richest in the UK for therophytic plants (annual plants that complete their life cycle in a short period when conditions are favourable and survive harsh conditions as seeds).  Notable plants are Slender Bird’s-foot-trefoil, Greater Broomrape, Hoary Cinquefoil, Clustered Clover, Suffocated Clover. Other grasslands in this area support Green-winged Orchids, a fast-declining species that is very rare west of the River Exe.  

(U4e is the most species-poor community typical of large areas of Dartmoor and Exmoor.   U3 = degraded heath)

Calcareous grasslands (UK priority habitat)

Pc   Lots more to add – needs finishing.  Calcareous grasslands are rare in Devon and occur where soils with a high pH (above 7) develop over limestone and chalk.  Add info on soilscapes  Key locations are:

• Torbay coastal limestone grasslands.   LINK TO FOCUS SPECIES – Torbay limestone plants
• Plymouth limestone grasslands – Fielf eryngo xxxx
• East Devon chalk on the coast and coastal valleys from Salcombe Regis east.   Add info on Focus Species xxxx  inverts and plants grouped into East Devon crumbing cliffs 

Calcareous soils also occur over the limestone around Ipplepen and there are small scattered calcareous grasslands across East Devon where limestone (Triassic/Jurassic) outcrops, particularly around Membury.  Link limestone to other Focus Species – bats.

More detailed information V 

To write up 

CG1 (CG1e in east  and CG1b/c at Torbay) – deeper soils CG2 – increasingly deeper soils merge into MG5b and MG1 where ungrazed.  

Merge into maritime grassland communities on cliff slopes  – MC11c etc

Coastal grasslands  

Pic    To add.  

Health check                        Read more V

Area    

 Info to be added later    SJ change WP and P to be consistent

Designations and condition   

Sites of Special Scientific Interest    18 SSSIs support PH?  Text below is draft.

• Lowland meadow

Lowland Meadow Priority Habitat is present in only 11 SSSIs in Devon. The most recent condition assessment data available for the majority of these is at least 10 years old.

Favourable condition:  Hense Moor (MG5c), Brock’s Farm (MG5c) Occombe (MG5c), Billacombe (MG5b), Dunnabridge Meadows (MG5c), Lambert’s Castle (Unit 24), (MG5c,) Hare’s Down, Knowstone Moors, Rackenford Common (Unit 6), (MG5c), 

Unfavourable:  Parks Farm, Bulmoor Pastures, MG5a/c,

Unfavourble recovering:  Quarry Fields Farm (MG5a), Berry Head (MG5a/b) 

• Lowland acid grassland 

Probably present in 2 SSSIs in Devon.

Favourable:  Grenofen Wood and West Down, Lundy.  

The Definition of Favourable Status for Lowland Dry Acidic Grassland recently published by Natural England lists 22 SSSIs in Devon that contain the habitat, although in fact it is only present on two of these (one of which is Lundy).  

• Lowland calcareous

Add info – Western King and Billacombe,   – managed by PCC   Berry Head to Sharkham Point  – Daddyhole – Hope’s Nose to Walls Hill  – TC&CT   Sidmouth to Beer Coast  – NT   Axmouth to Lyme Regis Undercliffs  – NE   Springhead Axmouth 

• Maritime grasslands

County Wildlife Sites

Add information