No Mow May

LJMU is taking part in No Mow May for a second year as part of our commitment to enhancing biodiversity on our estate.

No Mow May is a national initiative from Plantlife which asks people not to mow their lawns throughout the month.

To support the campaign, we are leaving three areas of lawn to grow:

• Tithebarn garden
• John Lennon Art and Design Building (garden)
• FL Calder

Information signs will be in place in each of the spaces.

We will be trialling areas of differential cutting to invite people to explore the spaces. This includes a cut around the perimeter and through the middle of FL Calder to mark where users are able to walk. At Tithebarn Building, a path and small open section of lawn will be mown to leave space for users to sit on the grass during their breaks. 

Benefits to wildlife

There are many benefits to not mowing the grass such as tackling pollution, reducing urban heat extremes and locking away atmospheric carbon below ground. However, one of the major benefits is helping to tackle the long-term loss of valuable habitats like flower-rich meadows. 

The loss of wildflower meadows across Britain has meant that many of our pollinating insects, such as bees, butterflies and bugs – species which we rely on to help us grow food, to feed our wild birds, bats and hedgehogs, and generally help our habitats to thrive – are in decline. However, leaving the grass encourages wildflowers to grow which is beneficial for our pollinator species and wildlife more generally.

Last year’s exercise helped us to determine a baseline value for our grassland habitats by revealing the multiple species which our lawns consist of. By understanding this value, we have been able to develop our Biodiversity Delivery Plan which will be launched later this month and includes actions to manage and develop the different greenspaces we have on campus to improve habitats and increase biodiversity.