I tore up my lawn last summer, took me a few months but I managed to clear the entire 600ft area of invasive bermudagrass. Now, I've transformed it into a lush wildflower garden, full of native California plants and wildlife. So far there are tons of native bees, beetles, and birds that I've never seen on my property beforehand, and I can't wait to see how it further develops later on
Incredible! So good to read this, you certainly are a wizard. Would love to see it in person when I visit the US. In the meantime, if you don't mind I'd love to see a few photos if ok - enquiries@hazelwoodlandscapes.com - thank you and well done :) Joel
I started with No Mow May a couple of years ago, and enjoyed seeing the flowers coming through and the amount of insects it encouraged so much that I now just mow paths through the grass instead. I try to make them different paths where possible to attempt to mimic grazers. Now I have massive numbers of bees, butterflies and and grasshoppers while next door complains they have none (with a billiard table lawn). I love hearing the grasshoppers all summer, it's so relaxing!
I've been planting a lot more wild flowers in my garden. To save money, I also dug up large clumps of grass and put them near the hedge. Lamium seems to spring up in the back garden, so I have transferred it to the front garden before my husband cuts the grass. I also got a large pot saucer and planted it with grass and thrown some wood and pine cones into it and some daisies too. This has been placed under a bush. Telling my husband not to mow the grass is like holding back the tide, so for those who like to cut the grass may I suggest that they dig up a patch of grass and put it in pots. Hidden away behind a shed or put on display will help the wildlife in some small way. I use my old frying pans (handle removed) for supplying drinks for wildlife. Thanks for the great videos.
Last year despite being sent to Coventry by our wonderful neighbours we didnt mow the front lawn I counted over 20 species of wildflowers listed By August it was a sea of ox eye daisies and I spotted numerous butterflies All the neighbours were worried about was that seeds would blow over their snooker table 😂
Well done you ! My old brother says my garden is a "b" mess I say no it's a wildlife garden, he does his head shake, I say "each to their own", biodiversity is totally lost on some folk😮 🦋🐛🐌🐜🐝🪲🐞🦗🕷🪳🕸🦟🪰🪱🦠🌻
My favorite video! The cows in the background are the best 😍. We use your videos as part of our homeschool curriculum. My son love gardening and everything related with nature. He rescues every animal he finds in trouble big or small he loves them all. Being in nature and working on the garden has helped us after we had to pull him out of public school because he was bullied so badly he was sent to the emergency room twice with injuries, because of all this happening he was diagnosed with acute stress disorder. Watching your channel is therapeutic and you have such of educational information explained in a fun, easy way to follow. Hopefully one day we can visit your country and see first hand all the stuff you show in your videos. Thank you so much 🙏🏾
Hi Mada, thank you so much for your comment. This makes every video absolutely worthwhile and I am so pleased that this has helped your son. I know about school bullying only too well (red hair and being into nature!) and I am so sorry to hear about your son's experiences, but happy to know that he is finding solace in nature and also a vital education as we will need guys like him in the future! If you wanted to send an email to me with a few photos then I am sure we can keep in touch much better and of course hopefully one day we can all meet in person. You can reach me at enquiries@wildyourgarden.com. In the meantime, please give my regards to your son :) Best wishes, Joel
Hope your son is doing ok! Same thing with one of my grandchildren, nature sure is a great healer and helping him through it all. Best wishes to you and your family.
@@SisterDogmata thank you. 🙏🏾. My son is doing much better, nature definitely helps with the healing process. He is working right now on his vegetable garden and pollinator garden, we are learning a lot too.
I’m absolutely amazed at the endless list of animals, insects and birds that benefit from not mowing your lawn. What an easy simple way to help wildlife 🦔
What a massive difference "No Mow" makes and it is heartening to see my local authority being less ruthless with their verge mowing policy whether due to budget restraints, shifts in thinking regarding biodiversity or both. Either way the benefits are many for both wildlife and us humans. Thank you Joel for being a passionate "No Mow" advocate. 🙏😊👍❤️
Last summer I came across an Adder at the bottom of my garden basking in the sun 😮😲 I didn't here you mention it, but I've been seeing loads of ladybirds in my orchard/meadow garden - my favourite beetle 😍 Enjoying your videos, which are motivating me to keep going with my wildlife gardens 👍
Just done my barrel pond this evening and next to that I have a area I am going to put wildflower seeds. Never been this excited about the garden as I am this year, bring on summer. Another great video
Thank you Mary, I really appreciate you taking the time to leave such a wonderful comment - comments like these really can make a difference to a difficult day :) I'm really grateful - best wishes, Joel
I love all your advice. Since returning to the UK after travelling Africa myself and my partner are missing the simple wildlife we encountered, the reduction in the more common bird and bug life in my area is so shocking due to development. This year my partners decided to dig a wildlife pond and we're leaving areas unmowed, planting wild flowers and building bird and bat boxes and bug hotels! I just wish we had more space! Keep up the great work!
This is so good to read, I'm so pleased that you're doing all these things and I think you know already that you'll be rewarded for every effort. I really appreciate your support and encouragement, best wishes - Joel
Hi Joel! Wonderful video! I am a veteran NON mower (this will be my 20th summer at my property and, likewise, 20 years without a lawnmower). And 'every' year, without fail, at least one new wild flower species has introduced itself to the garden without my help. (In fact, one new flower is growing at the top of my garden right now. Don't know what it is but it has flower buds starting to colour up nicely). Of course, I do introduce new flowers as well, but Nature is always full of the best surprises. The amount of new wildlife attracted to the garden has been amazing over the past 20 years. We have had some serious knock-backs along the way, very sadly. Neonicotinoid pesticides was the very worst offender, 2 unusually severe winters about 15 years ago-ish? And a neighbour who thought introducing peacocks was a great idea - it is not. Thankfully, the foxes thought they looked rather tasty! Of the more unusual creatures that have visited the garden over the years - an otter, a pair of Merlins, a pair of Peregrine Falcons, Red Kites, hares, a Long-Eared Owl with stunningly bright eyes, most recently - Common Lizards, a fleeting visit from a Goshawk - and even a wild Puma (he haunted the area for several weeks before moving on). I think my favourite visitors have to be the owls - the Little Owl being only one of a few species resident in the woods around us. But I also have a soft spot for a little black moth called 'The Sweep', whose foodplant is the Pignut (easy to grow. Very pretty and delicate looking. Sow seed on your no-mow lawn, water, walk away. Done). I had no idea that I was 'already doing the right thing by our newly arrived Lizards. In trying to keep down a particularly stubborn bramble, I threw a corrugated sheet over it last year, and the Lizard I saw just the other day - was heading in the direction of that sheet. (I have a few more corrugated sheets and plenty of room, so I will place them strategically today). Of the best floral surprise that suddenly popped up in the garden - the prize has to go to Hemp Agrimony. It just suddenly appeared after I smashed up a bit of old tarmac around the edge of the drive. Can't believe it had been laying dormant there all that time. Since then, I have introduced pieces of it to a wetter part of the garden, which is more suitable - and it has attracted Red Admiral butterflies in their hundreds over the years. (It's such an easy plant to propagate, just grab the old flower stem in late Autumn and pull. The stem will come off with a bunch of roots and next year's buds.) ### The only 'extra' piece of advice I would give is - if you plan to dispose of that mower and never cut that lawn again, should you want to plant any new trees in that lawn, 'do' put a tree guard around the base. Voles may arrive in your garden and will girdle very young trees, even Birch, Hazel, Holly and some pines (as I discovered to my cost). I'm not sure, but I think the voles probably do this to stop the grass turning into woodland, but if you're managing the area to prevent that anyway, you don't need their help. I have lots of trees in my meadow (because it is partly a permaculture/bird-feeding garden), and with the exception of the Walnut, voles have attacked very nearly every species of tree I planted. So I start them off with an adapted plastic bottle or salvaged tree guard until they are large enough to man it out with the wildlife. Once you stop mowing, you realise what a futile, time-wasting exercise it is. Also, you begin to regard other people mowing their lawns as 'trained by convention,' wasting their time, money and resources - and for what? Seriously, why? Unlike them, you will see the first benefits in your very first no-mow summer (and hear them too!) Birds, bugs, bats, and the frogs turn up first. And then you have the close encounters.... My son met the otter face-to-face when he was 7. He saw the puma saunter through our garden that same year (it terrified him, but it never came back). I have met with a Little Owl face-to-face. The same happened with a Red Squirrel, when it charged around the corner of the cottage wall - just as I was coming round from the opposite side. The Goshawk landed on a post not 10 metres in front of me. I have been almost within touching distance of a Red Deer stag (I was wearing a long red dressing gown, no idea they saw that colour as green. So, to him, I was invisible). And we arrived home late one night - to have a Harry Potter moment: a Tawny Owl sitting on our post box. Lately, Bullfinches have turned up to peck away at the crab apple tree. I just love their amazing colours. And not a day later, the Goldfinches were back - no doubt to nest in the very tip of my columnar conifer again, where they wave about on windy days (training for the kids I suspect).
Another top video Joel . With all the current work I’ve been doing in my garden, I’ve accumulated some excess soil from all my excavation work. It’s turned into a medium size mound to the sides of my conifer run , mostly because I had nowhere else for it and I refuse to pay out for yet another skip 😆 anyway, inspiration hit me and I now plan to sow some wildflower seeds into it to create another area of my garden to attract pollinators. 😊
Great presentation and yes we do for the last two years no cutting what used to be a lawn, but is no longer one last year it was incredible to see just how many and how varied our visiting insects were. Thank you for getting the message across in a lovely easy way for people to learn, we do need more to do the same. So please keep up the great work 💕 for all our 🐝 🐛🦋🐌🦟🐞🕷🦉🦇🦆🦅
Thank you Elly, so much. I really do appreciate the support and encouragement, it does make a difference :) So glad that you enjoyed this, and welcome to the channel where we have such a wonderful community, that is growing by the day and this important message being spread further. Best wishes, and thank you again - Joel
Hey Joel! Great advice as usual, and such an easy way to have more wildlife in the garden. I'm sure lots of us can attest that leaving some lawn to grow really does work and looks beautiful when the wildflowers appear. Loving those lawn mowers behind you! Hope you're all well, best wishes.
Hello! Going to reply to you just before I have to pop out, but thank you as always. I'm so glad you've seen so many positive changes in your garden, and with probably less effort than a traditionally managed garden! We're doing fine, I hope you and yours are well too - best wishes, Joel
❤ watching this Joel. The clover 🍀 is starting to appear plus these wee white flowers. I’ll take a photo of them tomorrow, if I remember, then tweet them.
Hi Joel I am lucky to have grasshoppers every year under my front room window in my front garden. I have a wonderful flower border and have my spring flowers plus lots of perennials which I grow from seed . I love seeing them and there seems to be hundreds! I am new to your channel and I love all the knowledge I am gaining from you. Thank y ou so much.
What a great video Joel have to say the cows where the stars in this vid 😂...My perennial wildflower meadow starting to come to life,cowslip & wild primroses looking good specially for the pollinating bees I have grasshoppers in my front garden.
Hoping to get my meadow going this year and am really looking forward to seeing it develop 😺 I don’t know what’s coming up as we’re not so far along in Poland yet (dandelions only just coming up along with deadnettles) but am hoping we will get lots of insects and birds. Your video has really encouraged me!
This is wonderful Tycjan, thank you. So good to know that people are helping in so many countries, I know that Poland has a lot of wonderful wildlife, I am yet to visit but hopefully one day soon. I am so glad that the videos have been helpful, there are lots more to come :) Best wishes to you and yours, Joel
My cats love Love LOVE the long grass and spend much more time outside in the summer months than they used to. They don't damage the wildflowers beyond establishing their own little regular pathways and like nothing more than to find a favourite patch in the partial shade of the long grass where they can snooze outside without getting sunburned. Mine aren't great hunters; I know house cats get a lot of flack for their impact on wildlife but as I see it, if my two start finding lizards, voles, frogs, slow worms and suchlike It'd be a positive sign that I'm creating a healthy habitat.
Thanks Joel very interesting and helpful . I have 2.5 acres for my 3 horses 1 Donkey and I'm learning how to manage it and create a healthy enviroment for them and our wildlife ! Just finished a pond and we have areas just for wildlife and a 6ft hotline edge around the horses to create a safe area beetween them and our Cornish stone hedges . Next on our list is wildflower meadow area ! Thanks for your fantastic advice .
Hi Lisa - thank you so much - your land wounds wonderful! So glad that you enjoyed this, I really appreciate your kind words and support too - sorry for the delay in responding but I'm just trying to catch up with everyone. Best wishes, Joel
I'll give it a go. Mowing our lawn involves quite a time and cost overhead, though I'm thinking of mowing the edges, providing access to our flower borders, and leaving the rest untouched until the end of September, which is almost the reverse of what you suggested. In fact, this would solve quite a problem for me, as I don't really have time to worry about our lawn, and, in common with many peoples' 'pride and joy', it's mostly moss anyway. I've already spotted a few butterflies in the garden, and I've learned to leave our nettle patch alone, so this will be the next stage.
So good to read this John, and exactly what I'd recommend, cutting late September or even early October (if the weather allows) is perfect and will give so many creatures a lifeline - moss is so very important and often denigrated by most. A mown area defining the longer grass certainly looks intentional and I'm really pleased you're doing this, the rewards will be many. Best wishes, Joel
I love the look of mown edges with an unmown square in the centre, looks really stylish I think and sets the flower beds off better than an entirely unkept lawn.
I recently discovered your channel completely by accident. It's amazing & has all the information I've been looking for. We currently have a small very bland new build house & garden in Scotland. which we hope to transform into a space for wildlife, including a pond. I was wondering, should the longer grassy areas be on the sunnier side of the garden? Thank you so much for your videos & the work that you do to help our wildlife.
Hi there Lynn, thank you so much for taking time out to let me know this, it's really encouraging and I'm grateful for the support. You may have seen already but I have done a recent video on my small front wildlife garden and it might help with some ideas. Grasses don't need to be on a sunnier side but it's great to have different areas depending on what you want to achieve - a little difficult to explain without seeing your garden of course, but if you want some ideas and recommendations for plants etc you can drop me a line at enquiries@wildyourgarden.com - hope you're having a good weekend, best wishes - Joel
@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton Thank you for your reply. I very much appreciate it. Thank you also for the opportunity to contact you. I recently bought your book & am reading it cover to cover to build an overall picture of what I want to achieve in the garden. I can then go through it more thoroughly. Thank you once again.
@@lynnthomas3029 Thank you Lynn, no doubt at all that the book will be helpful, and I'm grateful that you chose to buy it. I'll be here though if you have any questions. Best wishes, and enjoy the read!
Great video. I'm leaving a big patch of my lawn to grow this year, so I'll look forward to seeing what happens. Can you say where that meadow was you were filming from? I live in Essex and it looks a good place to visit.
Hi there! Absolutely I can, it's in Billericay and called "Mill Meadows" - access is actually through a housing estate but if you google it you will see there are several entrances. I hope this helps and that you get to visit (and that we don't have the predicted bank holiday rain!). Best wishes, and thank you - Joel
Thanks for a most inspirationen video. As a teenager I worked on a farm with red poll cattle - a gorgeous breed, so friendly and approachable. Thanks again
You're so welcome William, and I'm glad that this video brought back some fond memories, they certainly were friendly and made me smile a lot. Hope you and yours are well, best wishes - Joel
Very good advice as always! I try to simulate a natural environment as we would get from grazing animals, not an easy balance as if aggressive grasses take hold they can quickly take over an area swamping out lower plants like Thyme and Horseshoe Vetch, and that does no good at all, so I tend to use a "coppicing" approach and mow hard in some areas, but leave other areas for mowing every 3 years, it is surprising how many Orchids thrive on this treatment, and I have huge clumps of 40 plus Lizard Orchids and many other solitary orchids, at this moment there are many thousands of Grape Hyacinths in the short grass areas, and the Orchids tend to be supported by the slightly longer grasses, the small rodents thrive on these long grass areas which brings in a constant presents of Kestrels and Barn Owls, the Kestrels hunting until it is quite dark, the the Barn Owls taking over,(after they have whitewashed my tractor), but if we look at a natural meadow we can see that large animals are selective feeders, so they create the same patchwork system, a lot of extra work, but well worth it! Stay safe! Chris B.
Thank you Chris, having seen your wonderful garden I know how hard you work to achieve the best outcome for all creatures and it's certainly testimony to your efforts and knowledge :) Glad you enjoyed this one. Best wishes, Joel
This is brilliant Joel thanks so much for all the amazing information. I’ve just uploaded a video about dandelions today which will soon get mowed by the council ☹️
I will check it out - I am hearing (and seeing on Twitter etc) so many cases of dandelions just being obliterated and there's certainly no danger of them contributing to a poor road view for drivers :/ Glad you enjoyed the video - catch up soon, Joel
Have you ever thought about creating a video to mention which wildflowers a good for attracting beneficial insects like ladybirds into the garden, I could do with them around to help out with aphids, the birds don't seem interested in eating them!
This is a great idea! I'll add this to the list for sure, but a few more videos to upload yet so to help you right now... they seem to be unable to resist Yarrow, Fennel, Angelica, Dill, Chives and good old Dandelions :) I've had a few in the front garden and only a month or so ago I filmed one close-up actually working his/her way up a stem and picking off aphids - I'll upload that too as part of the update on the front garden :) Birds will usually prefer the aphids that cover trees/sap etc as it gives them a better chance of holding on and working their way along a branch. So glad you asked this though - hope you are doing well, best wishes - Joel
My wild flower seeds are starting to germinate so looking forward to what happens over the next couple of years. Hoping to attract plenty of wildlife. We do get hedgehogs, occasionally foxes, and mice (don’t tell the wife) the occasional slow worm and of course frogs and toads. Regards
Fantastic Keith, there's a certain pleasure in seeing that new growth and watching them develop and provide so much vital food and habitat. Laughed out loud at the "don't tell the wife" bit! What a privilege to have slow worms though :) Best wishes, as always - Joel
Exhausting work caring for our beautiful wildlife!! Whilst you have been putting this very comprehensive piece together,which is awesome, i've been planting some devil's bit scabious, ragged robin & purple loosestrife.😁
Hey Joel great video as always. Where abouts is this place? I live in Essex and would like to visit there looks lovely. Also I'm currently doing my front and back garden I'm doing a wildlife pond in the back with lots of borded flowers and the front lawn is gonna be Purley wild flowers can't wait to watch it grow.
I have been trying to have a wildflower area for some time. I garden on clay and get a lot of moss, wood avens and creeping buttercup which smothers the grass. The area that grew grass and looked great for a bout a month was then completely flattened , I think, by foxes. Also the grass gets brambles and nettles sprouting in it if its left uncut. Im having to come to terms with the fact I am.never going to have a flower filled meadow. I have an area where I leave nettles and brambles for wildlife but they do spread across the garden if I don't keep on top of them. Not easy now I'm getting on a bit. I Will persevere.
Sounds like what I have, bar foxes. I have couch grass too (sigh) and sorrel. I gathered some milk thistle seeds to see if those will grow. Wood avens help pollinators and nettles help butterflies (and pollinators) but the pretty wildflower lawn from the photos we all see when people try to promote these is not realistic in many parts of the UK! :)
Aww those cows are adorable . I’m afraid I mow our garden & my veg plot really short. We get LOADS of teeny weeny toads/ frogs & im terrified of standing on them 😳…..But…..luckily we have a very wild area next to the veg plot which is totally untouched, so I don’t feel too guilty 🥴 Always great advice…. Thanks Joel 😊
That acreage must be a sight to behold when in bloom. Unfortunately, I do have to mow. Living in an incorporated town, we are expected to mow, since I'm a commissioner I suppose I should follow the rules. I don't mow the clover until it's looking bad, all the fresh then gets mowed around. I also prefer a longer cut, so a lot of wild ground cover isn't touched.
Hi Joe I love wildlife and birds everything , this year I have already preparing my garden for next year wildlife garden. but I’m terrified with snakes. What if I’m going to step on them by mistake? Are they venomous? I’m terrified for my life when it comes to any kind of snakes including pet ones.
Firstly, you're being very brave :) I think the best thing would be to google the snakes that are found in your area, read up on them and become familiar with their differences, I have a feeling this could help a little with your fear - but I do understand how daunting it can be. I know you would have heard this loads, but snakes rarely come at you, they're usually trying to get out of the way :) Best wishes, Joel
Nice looking, clean cows. In the United States the cows poop all over themselves. I have never seen cows that aren’t covered with poop from midway to tail.
Hi Joel, could I get your advice on mice in the garden? My new place has a small garden which I have begun to work on mainly for herbs and wildflowers and pollinators but at the back there is a large 3 step loose rock structure that is bound together with wire. It was covered in ivy right down to my lawn so I have stripped it back to the top step as I didn't want to remove it completely being that it is vital for pollinators towards the end of the year but I wanted to free up the first couple steps to line my pots on. I've noticed mouse activity in and out of the rock gaps as I'm sure they are nesting in there. I don't want to harm them as every animal plays its part but I'm also conscious of the population getting out of hand as it seems a perfect breeding ground for them. What would be your advice on this? They aren't causing any problems atm and don't seem invasive but would love to hear what you would do in my place.
Hi there. Firstly, I'm so pleased that you are considering the mice. They have found refuge in your patch, but where there are mice there will soon be foxes and other predators of these creatures - it's a large part of why they have so many young, they're prey to a lot of things. A balanced wildlife garden should ensure nothing gets out of control - I'm not talking invasive plants of course, that's when we have to step in - but I would say that if you're feeding birds then ensure there's no seed etc left on the ground come the evening. We do have one particular field mouse that climbs the buddleja to eat the bird food, he's less shy than he used to be ;) I hope this helps, do let me know how you get on. Best wishes, Joel
I live in a north facing garden and have left the bottom of the garden to grow wild the past 2yrs. It does get a little sun but is mainly in shade as it's under a birch tree. There is a small amount of grass, which tends to flop over, but mainly bluebells, dandelions and dock leaves. I'd love to encourage more flowers, grasses etc for pollinators/wildlife. Do you have any ideas or do you have any seed mixes on you website that you could recommend? Finally going to be adding my pond this year and can't wait. You are such an inspiration, thanks.
Primroses are fine in the shade. Snowdrops. Lungwort: very colourful and great for early bees (highly recommend this one). Pignuts are an oft-overlooked plant, but will do fine in the dappled/part-shade areas under your tree. Yellow Dead Nettle grows like a weed under such situations - so be careful of that one, it can take over your life. Ransoms will do very well if the area is usually quite moist. Smells. So, neighbours... Water Betony - if, again, the ground has a bit of moisture. Lords and ladies - so long as you don't have small children around who might be tempted to pick the berries. Pink Campion. White Campion. Wood Anemone, of course. One of the best. Ferns. I have at least 5 types of fern growing under my trees (Male, Lady, Hartstongue, Buckler and some type of little, filmy, as yet unidentified fern which only grows when the weather is wet enough). Honesty will survive well on that sort of dappled/part shade area like the Pignuts.
@@debbiehenri345 Thank you so much for taking the time to give me all that info, much appreciated. I love the idea of the pignuts and the honesty. Definitely going to be giving them a try. Thanks again xx
Hi Joel!! I’m Alberto, your friend from Spain. Really useful and nice video. I didn’t know about the cow species! I wrote to you a few weeks ago and wasn’t sure if you received my email. Please tell me if you didn’t. Best wishes, hope to see you soon.
Alberto! Hello! I did receive an email but hotmail seemed to keep sending to people's junk folders - I will write to you tomorrow but from the @wildyourgarden.com email address so keep a look out for it :) I'm so glad that you enjoyed the video, catch up properly via email - best wishes to you and mum - Joel
Hm. Where i live, mediteranean, these hot months are snake season. We have several very posinous varieties in my village. For years only remove the posinous variety, still keeping weeds and grass short by homes helps us see the snakes! Tiny gardens anyway.
I can’t relax around cows man unless they’re behind a fence😬 im from the central north of island of NZ so dairy and beef country basically and cows we give them grief and they give us grief and milk. Cows are dangerous animals and so are sheep, both kill people every year. Coming from a Māori as far as in concerned the only mammals that should be on my land are people and bats
I tore up my lawn last summer, took me a few months but I managed to clear the entire 600ft area of invasive bermudagrass. Now, I've transformed it into a lush wildflower garden, full of native California plants and wildlife. So far there are tons of native bees, beetles, and birds that I've never seen on my property beforehand, and I can't wait to see how it further develops later on
Incredible! So good to read this, you certainly are a wizard. Would love to see it in person when I visit the US. In the meantime, if you don't mind I'd love to see a few photos if ok - enquiries@hazelwoodlandscapes.com - thank you and well done :) Joel
I started with No Mow May a couple of years ago, and enjoyed seeing the flowers coming through and the amount of insects it encouraged so much that I now just mow paths through the grass instead. I try to make them different paths where possible to attempt to mimic grazers. Now I have massive numbers of bees, butterflies and and grasshoppers while next door complains they have none (with a billiard table lawn). I love hearing the grasshoppers all summer, it's so relaxing!
I've been planting a lot more wild flowers in my garden. To save money, I also dug up large clumps of grass and put them near the hedge. Lamium seems to spring up in the back garden, so I have transferred it to the front garden before my husband cuts the grass. I also got a large pot saucer and planted it with grass and thrown some wood and pine cones into it and some daisies too. This has been placed under a bush. Telling my husband not to mow the grass is like holding back the tide, so for those who like to cut the grass may I suggest that they dig up a patch of grass and put it in pots. Hidden away behind a shed or put on display will help the wildlife in some small way. I use my old frying pans (handle removed) for supplying drinks for wildlife. Thanks for the great videos.
Last year despite being sent to Coventry by our wonderful neighbours we didnt mow the front lawn
I counted over 20 species of wildflowers listed
By August it was a sea of ox eye daisies and I spotted numerous butterflies
All the neighbours were worried about was that seeds would blow over their snooker table 😂
Well done you ! My old brother says my garden is a "b" mess I say no it's a wildlife garden, he does his head shake, I say "each to their own", biodiversity is totally lost on some folk😮 🦋🐛🐌🐜🐝🪲🐞🦗🕷🪳🕸🦟🪰🪱🦠🌻
My favorite video! The cows in the background are the best 😍. We use your videos as part of our homeschool curriculum. My son love gardening and everything related with nature. He rescues every animal he finds in trouble big or small he loves them all. Being in nature and working on the garden has helped us after we had to pull him out of public school because he was bullied so badly he was sent to the emergency room twice with injuries, because of all this happening he was diagnosed with acute stress disorder.
Watching your channel is therapeutic and you have such of educational information explained in a fun, easy way to follow.
Hopefully one day we can visit your country and see first hand all the stuff you show in your videos.
Thank you so much 🙏🏾
Hi Mada, thank you so much for your comment. This makes every video absolutely worthwhile and I am so pleased that this has helped your son. I know about school bullying only too well (red hair and being into nature!) and I am so sorry to hear about your son's experiences, but happy to know that he is finding solace in nature and also a vital education as we will need guys like him in the future! If you wanted to send an email to me with a few photos then I am sure we can keep in touch much better and of course hopefully one day we can all meet in person. You can reach me at enquiries@wildyourgarden.com. In the meantime, please give my regards to your son :) Best wishes, Joel
Hope your son is doing ok! Same thing with one of my grandchildren, nature sure is a great healer and helping him through it all. Best wishes to you and your family.
@@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton thank you 🙏🏾. My son saw your comment and he is very happy. Thank you so so much. We are going to email you soon
@@SisterDogmata thank you. 🙏🏾. My son is doing much better, nature definitely helps with the healing process. He is working right now on his vegetable garden and pollinator garden, we are learning a lot too.
I’m absolutely amazed at the endless list of animals, insects and birds that benefit from not mowing your lawn. What an easy simple way to help wildlife 🦔
What a massive difference "No Mow" makes and it is heartening to see my local authority being less ruthless with their verge mowing policy whether due to budget restraints, shifts in thinking regarding biodiversity or both. Either way the benefits are many for both wildlife and us humans. Thank you Joel for being a passionate "No Mow" advocate. 🙏😊👍❤️
Last summer I came across an Adder at the bottom of my garden basking in the sun 😮😲 I didn't here you mention it, but I've been seeing loads of ladybirds in my orchard/meadow garden - my favourite beetle 😍 Enjoying your videos, which are motivating me to keep going with my wildlife gardens 👍
Just done my barrel pond this evening and next to that I have a area I am going to put wildflower seeds. Never been this excited about the garden as I am this year, bring on summer. Another great video
I truly think and praise God for people like you that take care of these God-given gifts may God bless and keep you by his power.
Thank you Mary, I really appreciate you taking the time to leave such a wonderful comment - comments like these really can make a difference to a difficult day :) I'm really grateful - best wishes, Joel
I love all your advice. Since returning to the UK after travelling Africa myself and my partner are missing the simple wildlife we encountered, the reduction in the more common bird and bug life in my area is so shocking due to development. This year my partners decided to dig a wildlife pond and we're leaving areas unmowed, planting wild flowers and building bird and bat boxes and bug hotels! I just wish we had more space! Keep up the great work!
This is so good to read, I'm so pleased that you're doing all these things and I think you know already that you'll be rewarded for every effort. I really appreciate your support and encouragement, best wishes - Joel
Hi Joel!
Wonderful video! I am a veteran NON mower (this will be my 20th summer at my property and, likewise, 20 years without a lawnmower).
And 'every' year, without fail, at least one new wild flower species has introduced itself to the garden without my help.
(In fact, one new flower is growing at the top of my garden right now. Don't know what it is but it has flower buds starting to colour up nicely).
Of course, I do introduce new flowers as well, but Nature is always full of the best surprises.
The amount of new wildlife attracted to the garden has been amazing over the past 20 years.
We have had some serious knock-backs along the way, very sadly.
Neonicotinoid pesticides was the very worst offender, 2 unusually severe winters about 15 years ago-ish? And a neighbour who thought introducing peacocks was a great idea - it is not. Thankfully, the foxes thought they looked rather tasty!
Of the more unusual creatures that have visited the garden over the years - an otter, a pair of Merlins, a pair of Peregrine Falcons, Red Kites, hares, a Long-Eared Owl with stunningly bright eyes, most recently - Common Lizards, a fleeting visit from a Goshawk - and even a wild Puma (he haunted the area for several weeks before moving on).
I think my favourite visitors have to be the owls - the Little Owl being only one of a few species resident in the woods around us.
But I also have a soft spot for a little black moth called 'The Sweep', whose foodplant is the Pignut (easy to grow. Very pretty and delicate looking. Sow seed on your no-mow lawn, water, walk away. Done).
I had no idea that I was 'already doing the right thing by our newly arrived Lizards. In trying to keep down a particularly stubborn bramble, I threw a corrugated sheet over it last year, and the Lizard I saw just the other day - was heading in the direction of that sheet.
(I have a few more corrugated sheets and plenty of room, so I will place them strategically today).
Of the best floral surprise that suddenly popped up in the garden - the prize has to go to Hemp Agrimony. It just suddenly appeared after I smashed up a bit of old tarmac around the edge of the drive. Can't believe it had been laying dormant there all that time.
Since then, I have introduced pieces of it to a wetter part of the garden, which is more suitable - and it has attracted Red Admiral butterflies in their hundreds over the years.
(It's such an easy plant to propagate, just grab the old flower stem in late Autumn and pull. The stem will come off with a bunch of roots and next year's buds.)
### The only 'extra' piece of advice I would give is - if you plan to dispose of that mower and never cut that lawn again, should you want to plant any new trees in that lawn, 'do' put a tree guard around the base.
Voles may arrive in your garden and will girdle very young trees, even Birch, Hazel, Holly and some pines (as I discovered to my cost).
I'm not sure, but I think the voles probably do this to stop the grass turning into woodland, but if you're managing the area to prevent that anyway, you don't need their help.
I have lots of trees in my meadow (because it is partly a permaculture/bird-feeding garden), and with the exception of the Walnut, voles have attacked very nearly every species of tree I planted. So I start them off with an adapted plastic bottle or salvaged tree guard until they are large enough to man it out with the wildlife.
Once you stop mowing, you realise what a futile, time-wasting exercise it is. Also, you begin to regard other people mowing their lawns as 'trained by convention,' wasting their time, money and resources - and for what?
Seriously, why?
Unlike them, you will see the first benefits in your very first no-mow summer (and hear them too!) Birds, bugs, bats, and the frogs turn up first.
And then you have the close encounters....
My son met the otter face-to-face when he was 7. He saw the puma saunter through our garden that same year (it terrified him, but it never came back).
I have met with a Little Owl face-to-face. The same happened with a Red Squirrel, when it charged around the corner of the cottage wall - just as I was coming round from the opposite side. The Goshawk landed on a post not 10 metres in front of me. I have been almost within touching distance of a Red Deer stag (I was wearing a long red dressing gown, no idea they saw that colour as green. So, to him, I was invisible). And we arrived home late one night - to have a Harry Potter moment: a Tawny Owl sitting on our post box.
Lately, Bullfinches have turned up to peck away at the crab apple tree. I just love their amazing colours.
And not a day later, the Goldfinches were back - no doubt to nest in the very tip of my columnar conifer again, where they wave about on windy days (training for the kids I suspect).
Another top video Joel . With all the current work I’ve been doing in my garden, I’ve accumulated some excess soil from all my excavation work. It’s turned into a medium size mound to the sides of my conifer run , mostly because I had nowhere else for it and I refuse to pay out for yet another skip 😆 anyway, inspiration hit me and I now plan to sow some wildflower seeds into it to create another area of my garden to attract pollinators. 😊
Great presentation and yes we do for the last two years no cutting what used to be a lawn, but is no longer one last year it was incredible to see just how many and how varied our visiting insects were. Thank you for getting the message across in a lovely easy way for people to learn, we do need more to do the same. So please keep up the great work 💕 for all our 🐝 🐛🦋🐌🦟🐞🕷🦉🦇🦆🦅
Thank you Elly, so much. I really do appreciate the support and encouragement, it does make a difference :) So glad that you enjoyed this, and welcome to the channel where we have such a wonderful community, that is growing by the day and this important message being spread further. Best wishes, and thank you again - Joel
Brilliant thankyou
Thanks Rebecca, glad this was helpful - best wishes, Joel
Hey Joel! Great advice as usual, and such an easy way to have more wildlife in the garden. I'm sure lots of us can attest that leaving some lawn to grow really does work and looks beautiful when the wildflowers appear. Loving those lawn mowers behind you! Hope you're all well, best wishes.
Hello! Going to reply to you just before I have to pop out, but thank you as always. I'm so glad you've seen so many positive changes in your garden, and with probably less effort than a traditionally managed garden! We're doing fine, I hope you and yours are well too - best wishes, Joel
❤ watching this Joel. The clover 🍀 is starting to appear plus these wee white flowers. I’ll take a photo of them tomorrow, if I remember, then tweet them.
Hi Joel I am lucky to have grasshoppers every year under my front room window in my front garden. I have a wonderful flower border and have my spring flowers plus lots of perennials which I grow from seed . I love seeing them and there seems to be hundreds! I am new to your channel and I love all the knowledge I am gaining from you. Thank y ou so much.
What a great video Joel have to say the cows where the stars in this vid 😂...My perennial wildflower meadow starting to come to life,cowslip & wild primroses looking good specially for the pollinating bees I have grasshoppers in my front garden.
Stick with it Joel. Your making a positive difference
Hoping to get my meadow going this year and am really looking forward to seeing it develop 😺 I don’t know what’s coming up as we’re not so far along in Poland yet (dandelions only just coming up along with deadnettles) but am hoping we will get lots of insects and birds. Your video has really encouraged me!
This is wonderful Tycjan, thank you. So good to know that people are helping in so many countries, I know that Poland has a lot of wonderful wildlife, I am yet to visit but hopefully one day soon. I am so glad that the videos have been helpful, there are lots more to come :) Best wishes to you and yours, Joel
My cats love Love LOVE the long grass and spend much more time outside in the summer months than they used to. They don't damage the wildflowers beyond establishing their own little regular pathways and like nothing more than to find a favourite patch in the partial shade of the long grass where they can snooze outside without getting sunburned.
Mine aren't great hunters; I know house cats get a lot of flack for their impact on wildlife but as I see it, if my two start finding lizards, voles, frogs, slow worms and suchlike It'd be a positive sign that I'm creating a healthy habitat.
Upstaged by the cows a little there Joel 😊 What a great education that was, I think you covered everything.
Thanks Joel very interesting and helpful . I have 2.5 acres for my 3 horses 1 Donkey and I'm learning how to manage it and create a healthy enviroment for them and our wildlife ! Just finished a pond and we have areas just for wildlife and a 6ft hotline edge around the horses to create a safe area beetween them and our Cornish stone hedges . Next on our list is wildflower meadow area ! Thanks for your fantastic advice .
Hi Lisa - thank you so much - your land wounds wonderful! So glad that you enjoyed this, I really appreciate your kind words and support too - sorry for the delay in responding but I'm just trying to catch up with everyone. Best wishes, Joel
Well said Joel 👏🏻
Beautiful cows. I didn't know that they could be so curious. 😄
I'll give it a go. Mowing our lawn involves quite a time and cost overhead, though I'm thinking of mowing the edges, providing access to our flower borders, and leaving the rest untouched until the end of September, which is almost the reverse of what you suggested. In fact, this would solve quite a problem for me, as I don't really have time to worry about our lawn, and, in common with many peoples' 'pride and joy', it's mostly moss anyway. I've already spotted a few butterflies in the garden, and I've learned to leave our nettle patch alone, so this will be the next stage.
So good to read this John, and exactly what I'd recommend, cutting late September or even early October (if the weather allows) is perfect and will give so many creatures a lifeline - moss is so very important and often denigrated by most. A mown area defining the longer grass certainly looks intentional and I'm really pleased you're doing this, the rewards will be many. Best wishes, Joel
I love the look of mown edges with an unmown square in the centre, looks really stylish I think and sets the flower beds off better than an entirely unkept lawn.
Another fabulous video Joel. Thank you so much for the info and advice. Looking forward to another no mow year. Cheers!
You'll never know how wonderful "another no mow year" sounds Marcia :) Thanks ever so much for the support and encouragement, best wishes - Joel
I recently discovered your channel completely by accident. It's amazing & has all the information I've been looking for. We currently have a small very bland new build house & garden in Scotland. which we hope to transform into a space for wildlife, including a pond. I was wondering, should the longer grassy areas be on the sunnier side of the garden? Thank you so much for your videos & the work that you do to help our wildlife.
Hi there Lynn, thank you so much for taking time out to let me know this, it's really encouraging and I'm grateful for the support. You may have seen already but I have done a recent video on my small front wildlife garden and it might help with some ideas. Grasses don't need to be on a sunnier side but it's great to have different areas depending on what you want to achieve - a little difficult to explain without seeing your garden of course, but if you want some ideas and recommendations for plants etc you can drop me a line at enquiries@wildyourgarden.com - hope you're having a good weekend, best wishes - Joel
@WildYourGardenWithJoelAshton Thank you for your reply. I very much appreciate it. Thank you also for the opportunity to contact you.
I recently bought your book & am reading it cover to cover to build an overall picture of what I want to achieve in the garden. I can then go through it more thoroughly. Thank you once again.
@@lynnthomas3029 Thank you Lynn, no doubt at all that the book will be helpful, and I'm grateful that you chose to buy it. I'll be here though if you have any questions. Best wishes, and enjoy the read!
Great video. I'm leaving a big patch of my lawn to grow this year, so I'll look forward to seeing what happens. Can you say where that meadow was you were filming from? I live in Essex and it looks a good place to visit.
Hi there! Absolutely I can, it's in Billericay and called "Mill Meadows" - access is actually through a housing estate but if you google it you will see there are several entrances. I hope this helps and that you get to visit (and that we don't have the predicted bank holiday rain!). Best wishes, and thank you - Joel
Thanks for a most inspirationen video. As a teenager I worked on a farm with red poll cattle - a gorgeous breed, so friendly and approachable. Thanks again
You're so welcome William, and I'm glad that this video brought back some fond memories, they certainly were friendly and made me smile a lot. Hope you and yours are well, best wishes - Joel
Very good advice as always! I try to simulate a natural environment as we would get from grazing animals, not an easy balance as if aggressive grasses take hold they can quickly take over an area swamping out lower plants like Thyme and Horseshoe Vetch, and that does no good at all, so I tend to use a "coppicing" approach and mow hard in some areas, but leave other areas for mowing every 3 years, it is surprising how many Orchids thrive on this treatment, and I have huge clumps of 40 plus Lizard Orchids and many other solitary orchids, at this moment there are many thousands of Grape Hyacinths in the short grass areas, and the Orchids tend to be supported by the slightly longer grasses, the small rodents thrive on these long grass areas which brings in a constant presents of Kestrels and Barn Owls, the Kestrels hunting until it is quite dark, the the Barn Owls taking over,(after they have whitewashed my tractor), but if we look at a natural meadow we can see that large animals are selective feeders, so they create the same patchwork system, a lot of extra work, but well worth it! Stay safe! Chris B.
Thank you Chris, having seen your wonderful garden I know how hard you work to achieve the best outcome for all creatures and it's certainly testimony to your efforts and knowledge :) Glad you enjoyed this one. Best wishes, Joel
This is brilliant Joel thanks so much for all the amazing information. I’ve just uploaded a video about dandelions today which will soon get mowed by the council ☹️
I will check it out - I am hearing (and seeing on Twitter etc) so many cases of dandelions just being obliterated and there's certainly no danger of them contributing to a poor road view for drivers :/ Glad you enjoyed the video - catch up soon, Joel
Have you ever thought about creating a video to mention which wildflowers a good for attracting beneficial insects like ladybirds into the garden, I could do with them around to help out with aphids, the birds don't seem interested in eating them!
This is a great idea! I'll add this to the list for sure, but a few more videos to upload yet so to help you right now... they seem to be unable to resist Yarrow, Fennel, Angelica, Dill, Chives and good old Dandelions :) I've had a few in the front garden and only a month or so ago I filmed one close-up actually working his/her way up a stem and picking off aphids - I'll upload that too as part of the update on the front garden :) Birds will usually prefer the aphids that cover trees/sap etc as it gives them a better chance of holding on and working their way along a branch. So glad you asked this though - hope you are doing well, best wishes - Joel
Cheers for the list Joel, Yarrow was one I knew about from searching online, I will have a look at the others you mention.
Merci !
My wild flower seeds are starting to germinate so looking forward to what happens over the next couple of years. Hoping to attract plenty of wildlife. We do get hedgehogs, occasionally foxes, and mice (don’t tell the wife) the occasional slow worm and of course frogs and toads. Regards
Fantastic Keith, there's a certain pleasure in seeing that new growth and watching them develop and provide so much vital food and habitat. Laughed out loud at the "don't tell the wife" bit! What a privilege to have slow worms though :) Best wishes, as always - Joel
Exhausting work caring for our beautiful wildlife!! Whilst you have been putting this very comprehensive piece together,which is awesome, i've been planting some devil's bit scabious, ragged robin & purple loosestrife.😁
Brilliant, so good to read this Dean :) Thanks ever so much for the encouragement and support - Joel
Thank you for a lovely video...like all your other productions: Amazing.
Thank you Paul, so much - that means a lot and makes every effort worthwhile. Best wishes, Joel
Hey Joel great video as always. Where abouts is this place? I live in Essex and would like to visit there looks lovely. Also I'm currently doing my front and back garden I'm doing a wildlife pond in the back with lots of borded flowers and the front lawn is gonna be Purley wild flowers can't wait to watch it grow.
I have been trying to have a wildflower area for some time. I garden on clay and get a lot of moss, wood avens and creeping buttercup which smothers the grass. The area that grew grass and looked great for a bout a month was then completely flattened , I think, by foxes. Also the grass gets brambles and nettles sprouting in it if its left uncut. Im having to come to terms with the fact I am.never going to have a flower filled meadow. I have an area where I leave nettles and brambles for wildlife but they do spread across the garden if I don't keep on top of them. Not easy now I'm getting on a bit.
I Will persevere.
Sounds like what I have, bar foxes. I have couch grass too (sigh) and sorrel. I gathered some milk thistle seeds to see if those will grow. Wood avens help pollinators and nettles help butterflies (and pollinators) but the pretty wildflower lawn from the photos we all see when people try to promote these is not realistic in many parts of the UK! :)
Grasshoppits 😂 I’m using that from now on
I’m leaving half my back lawn area this year.😊👍
Awesome Helen! You'll be rewarded for less effort, I promise :) Thank you - Joel
Aww those cows are adorable . I’m afraid I mow our garden & my veg plot really short. We get LOADS of teeny weeny toads/ frogs & im terrified of standing on them 😳…..But…..luckily we have a very wild area next to the veg plot which is totally untouched, so I don’t feel too guilty 🥴
Always great advice…. Thanks Joel 😊
great video
Thank you so much :)
That acreage must be a sight to behold when in bloom. Unfortunately, I do have to mow. Living in an incorporated town, we are expected to mow, since I'm a commissioner I suppose I should follow the rules. I don't mow the clover until it's looking bad, all the fresh then gets mowed around. I also prefer a longer cut, so a lot of wild ground cover isn't touched.
Hi Joe I love wildlife and birds everything , this year I have already preparing my garden for next year wildlife garden. but I’m terrified with snakes. What if I’m going to step on them by mistake? Are they venomous? I’m terrified for my life when it comes to any kind of snakes including pet ones.
Firstly, you're being very brave :) I think the best thing would be to google the snakes that are found in your area, read up on them and become familiar with their differences, I have a feeling this could help a little with your fear - but I do understand how daunting it can be. I know you would have heard this loads, but snakes rarely come at you, they're usually trying to get out of the way :) Best wishes, Joel
Nice looking, clean cows. In the United States the cows poop all over themselves. I have never seen cows that aren’t covered with poop from midway to tail.
Where in Essex is this meadow?
Hi Joel, could I get your advice on mice in the garden? My new place has a small garden which I have begun to work on mainly for herbs and wildflowers and pollinators but at the back there is a large 3 step loose rock structure that is bound together with wire. It was covered in ivy right down to my lawn so I have stripped it back to the top step as I didn't want to remove it completely being that it is vital for pollinators towards the end of the year but I wanted to free up the first couple steps to line my pots on. I've noticed mouse activity in and out of the rock gaps as I'm sure they are nesting in there. I don't want to harm them as every animal plays its part but I'm also conscious of the population getting out of hand as it seems a perfect breeding ground for them. What would be your advice on this? They aren't causing any problems atm and don't seem invasive but would love to hear what you would do in my place.
Hi there. Firstly, I'm so pleased that you are considering the mice. They have found refuge in your patch, but where there are mice there will soon be foxes and other predators of these creatures - it's a large part of why they have so many young, they're prey to a lot of things. A balanced wildlife garden should ensure nothing gets out of control - I'm not talking invasive plants of course, that's when we have to step in - but I would say that if you're feeding birds then ensure there's no seed etc left on the ground come the evening. We do have one particular field mouse that climbs the buddleja to eat the bird food, he's less shy than he used to be ;) I hope this helps, do let me know how you get on. Best wishes, Joel
What is the correct position for a box to attract owls? My back garden faces east, would that be suitable?
I live in a north facing garden and have left the bottom of the garden to grow wild the past 2yrs. It does get a little sun but is mainly in shade as it's under a birch tree. There is a small amount of grass, which tends to flop over, but mainly bluebells, dandelions and dock leaves. I'd love to encourage more flowers, grasses etc for pollinators/wildlife. Do you have any ideas or do you have any seed mixes on you website that you could recommend? Finally going to be adding my pond this year and can't wait. You are such an inspiration, thanks.
Primroses are fine in the shade.
Snowdrops.
Lungwort: very colourful and great for early bees (highly recommend this one).
Pignuts are an oft-overlooked plant, but will do fine in the dappled/part-shade areas under your tree.
Yellow Dead Nettle grows like a weed under such situations - so be careful of that one, it can take over your life.
Ransoms will do very well if the area is usually quite moist. Smells. So, neighbours...
Water Betony - if, again, the ground has a bit of moisture.
Lords and ladies - so long as you don't have small children around who might be tempted to pick the berries.
Pink Campion.
White Campion.
Wood Anemone, of course. One of the best.
Ferns. I have at least 5 types of fern growing under my trees (Male, Lady, Hartstongue, Buckler and some type of little, filmy, as yet unidentified fern which only grows when the weather is wet enough).
Honesty will survive well on that sort of dappled/part shade area like the Pignuts.
@@debbiehenri345 Thank you so much for taking the time to give me all that info, much appreciated. I love the idea of the pignuts and the honesty. Definitely going to be giving them a try. Thanks again xx
Hi Joel!! I’m Alberto, your friend from Spain. Really useful and nice video. I didn’t know about the cow species! I wrote to you a few weeks ago and wasn’t sure if you received my email. Please tell me if you didn’t.
Best wishes, hope to see you soon.
Alberto! Hello! I did receive an email but hotmail seemed to keep sending to people's junk folders - I will write to you tomorrow but from the @wildyourgarden.com email address so keep a look out for it :) I'm so glad that you enjoyed the video, catch up properly via email - best wishes to you and mum - Joel
Great! Look forward to your reply
Hm. Where i live, mediteranean, these hot months are snake season. We have several very posinous varieties in my village. For years only remove the posinous variety, still keeping weeds and grass short by homes helps us see the snakes! Tiny gardens anyway.
New pond videosssssss
The cows are wondering why this crazy human is talking to his hand
No doubt at all. Sometimes I wonder the same! Best wishes, Joel
I can’t relax around cows man unless they’re behind a fence😬 im from the central north of island of NZ so dairy and beef country basically and cows we give them grief and they give us grief and milk. Cows are dangerous animals and so are sheep, both kill people every year. Coming from a Māori as far as in concerned the only mammals that should be on my land are people and bats