Wildflower meadows support extraordinary densities of invertebrates, birds and mammals, providing the food and habitat resources that underpin animal welfare across entire landscapes.
Wildflower meadows create welfare-positive landscapes by providing abundant food, shelter and breeding habitat for a diverse array of species. The welfare value of a meadow compared to improved grassland is enormous — the difference in invertebrate biomass alone represents billions of individual animals with access to adequate food and appropriate conditions. Meadow management timing — cutting after seed set in late summer — is also welfare-sensitive, avoiding destruction of nesting sites and reducing harm to invertebrate populations compared to earlier cuts.