Outstanding YCV...

Long grass – it may not be as pretty as flowers but it is important for wildlife too…

We all welcome the return of the swifts, but what are they going to eat now they are here?

The decline of swifts in the UK is well known and one of the reasons is the lack of nesting sites but less known is the lack of flying insects. Urban development and modern farming methods have seen a drastic drop in flying insect numbers.

Grasslands are at the heart of healthy insect populations. We depend on them for much of our food but so do many other creatures. They are the most important crop in the UK and feed our cows and sheep.

In a traditional meadow, it’s not just the insects we see that make up the majority of life in them as below the surface there are vast armies of small and microscopic creatures that burrow away through the soil. Regiments of worms aerating the same soil and creating pathways for smaller creatures too.

Nibbling away at the roots & creating fertility are large numbers of root feeders like leather jackets, cranefly larvae, wireworms, cockchafers and many more. They in turn are accessed by soil probing birds such as rooks, starlings, blackbirds thrushes, lapwings and curlews.

The emerging swarms of flying adult insects fuel the migration of air feeding birds including swifts. Very similar events take place when the flying ants take to the air, packed with fat and protein irresistible to a very wide range of birds from sparrows to seagulls and many more as well as the swifts, swallows and martins.

Yaxley is particularly well known for these upwellings that attract birds from a large area to feed. Nestling in the grass swards are large numbers of other insects such as grasshoppers, crickets, moth and butterfly larvae, countless beetles and many more - all of which we lose when grass is removed and replaced by gravel, concrete or astroturf.

So please view that patch of long grass in your back garden with awe and respect. The Community Orchard is managed to include areas of long grass as traditional hay meadow and we often see swifts swooping over the orchard.

If you want to help swifts by providing a place to raise their young please get in touch with us and we can provide a nestbox and help to fit it to your house. You can see a line of swift boxes along the side of the Owen Pooley Hall with a QR code to tell you more about them.

If you would like to help us look after the orchard or help us with our projects around the village please do get in touch: 

secretary@ycv.org.uk