Last week I went for a meander around Cathays Cemetery in Cardiff, looking for waxcaps. The cemetery is a SSSI (a Site of Special Scientific Interest) because of its waxcaps, and they are stunning. The SSSI designation is supposed to ensure the site is protected from environmental damage, and managed in a way that benefits the flora and/or fauna that resulted in its designation, but it doesn’t.
All of the beautiful waxcaps pictured in this post would have been destroyed by the end of that day because a council worker was cutting the grass. In fact, I only had time to check a couple of the uncut blocks within the grounds before they too were mown.
This is typical of Cardiff Council’s assault on the natural environment. They’ve been told by ecologists how the cemetery should be managed but they ignore that advice, cut when the waxcaps are fruiting, and leave the clippings.
This is a deliberate decision by the Council; and the situation could easily be remedied either by mowing the grass a little earlier or a little later in the year. And, if budget cuts mean they can’t afford to purchase a mower than removes the clippings, then they could co-ordinate the mowing with the cemetery Friends group and other voluntary groups to rake the clippings. But they don’t.
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Wow you have every base covered there. How disappointing, but not surprising. Good luck though and I hope you don’t give up. Sometimes all you can do is raise awareness, action can be hard to come by or else takes a long time.
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Thanks! 🙂
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Unfortunately councils in general are not ecologically-minded. They are hyper focused on tidiness and often nature conservation is seen as a obstruction to delivering on statutory requirements or ensuring complaints don’t pile up. Complaints about wildlife just don’t seem to have the same impact as a complaint about lawn being uncut. Depends on the council of course. Have you got any advice from Plantlife? Or contacted the relevant councillors? They can be good about these things. Heck, even the MP. Good luck, the waxcaps are fortunate that someone cares.
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The irony is that nature conservation is a statutory requirement here in Wales but it’s not enforced.
A couple of years ago I visited the site with a senior local ecologist who had written a management plan for the council and the person who was then Plantlife’s waxcap officer, so the ecologist and I could show them the location and problems in person. Plantlife were going to follow up. As far as I’m aware that also hit a brick wall. Sadly, the majority of Welsh Labour councils and politicians are not even remotely interested in environmental concerns.
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i agree is all we can do is tell them time and time again where they can change and hope that the council officers change to more environmentally aware bods! But you should always speak to your Councillors, they are the politicians, the Council officials should follow what the politicians dictate!
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This is the worry all over Cardiff and all we can do is write and insist on better management (which I have done but its so exhausting all the time).
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It is exhausting and, most of the time, it’s like bashing your head against a brick wall!
[I edited your comment, and deleted the first, to reflect what you wrote. I hope that’s okay.]
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That’s fine, thank you
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