Mercer Park
Differential Mowing 2025
Notice anything different in the park? Yes, the grass has been left uncut, but it has been left uncut by design. As part of Hyndburn Council’s efforts to address the climate emergency and safeguard its precious biodiversity, your Parks and Open Spaces team are purposely letting the grass grow throughout the whole growing season. This is something that many Local Authorities across the country are moving towards, and we think it’s great. The benefits of differential mowing regimes to onsite biodiversity are well documented and apparent, and Hyndburn Council prides itself in its parks being sites of conservation for native flora and fauna. In the summer, these areas will be alive with the sound of grasshoppers and the site of butterflies and bees, and awash with colour from the natural wildflower seed already in the soil bank which otherwise cannot thrive when repeated cut. And we invite you in! Our gardeners will aim to mow paths through these areas so you can fully immerse yourself in the sights, sounds and smells and these naturalised areas of the parks. They will be maintained however, as our grounds maintenance operatives will aim to cut around the perimeters and strips adjacent to footpaths to avoid grass encroaching onto paths. It’s managed, none-maintenance! And the areas will be cut and cleared by the end of September.
See what you can see or hear hiding in the long grass! We hope you enjoy these changes