SNH Commissioned Report 313: Literature review of the history of grassland management in Scotland

Abstract

The biodiversity of semi-natural grasslands (also known as unimproved grasslands) is a product of their past low-intensity agricultural management. Current knowledge of appropriate management for these species-rich pastures and meadows is often based on assumptions of the types of management in the past that created and maintained them. This project provides evidence from historical records to support SNH’s advice on the status and management of unimproved lowland grasslands. It describes the typical grassland management regimes of the past three centuries, looking at hay production and grazings, and at past methods of improvement and fertilisation. It shows which types of grassland were valued and which were considered undesirable, and thus how past grassland management has shaped the modern resource.