{"id":1026,"date":"2026-06-04T09:26:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T08:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/?page_id=1026"},"modified":"2026-06-04T09:26:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T08:26:07","slug":"improving-grassland-and-scything","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/index.php\/activites\/improving-grassland-and-scything\/","title":{"rendered":"Improving grassland and scything"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"771\" src=\"http:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG-20240817-WA0005-1024x771.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-626\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG-20240817-WA0005-1024x771.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG-20240817-WA0005-300x226.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG-20240817-WA0005-768x578.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG-20240817-WA0005-1536x1156.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG-20240817-WA0005-380x286.jpg 380w, https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/IMG-20240817-WA0005.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Stoke Park has public funding through a\u00a0Countryside Stewardship Scheme agreement awarded by Defra, which helps us to restore and improve the landscape of Stoke Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Work is ongoing to improve the biodiversity of grassland across the Park, turning it into a species-rich habitat which supports a full ecosystem of wildlife, from insects and other creepy crawlies through small herbivorous mammals to predators such as foxes and birds of prey. You may well hear the mew of a buzzard as you walk or cycle around the Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our volunteer group supports grassland improvement through a range of activities, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Scything &#8211; this manual method of cutting back grass and other vegetation creates mosaic grassland which means that a wider variety of species is supported. In addition, there is zero pollution (when compared to machinery) and the impact on existing wildlife is minimal<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Scrub clearance &#8211; pernicious species such as brambles, wild roses and hawthorn can take over areas of grassland, blocking light from reaching smaller species and changing the ecosystem. In some areas of grassland we remove these species to enable grass and flower species to grow in their place<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Building and maintaining paths &#8211; supporting Park users to stick to defined paths helps preserve other areas from trampling and erosion and enables a range of species to thrive<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stoke Park has public funding through a\u00a0Countryside Stewardship Scheme agreement awarded by Defra, which helps us to restore and improve the landscape of Stoke Park. Work is ongoing to improve the biodiversity of grassland across the Park, turning it into a species-rich habitat which supports a full ecosystem of wildlife, from insects and other creepy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":162,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1026","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1026"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1030,"href":"https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1026\/revisions\/1030"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stoke-park.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}