In pictures: Shire horses return to harvest King’s College’s wildflower meadow

Maintaining a tradition happily re-established in recent years, the wildflower meadow at King’s College, Cambridge, is being harvested this week with the help of Shire horses.

Their work began on Monday (5 August) and is due to be completed today (Thursday, 8 August).

The Shire horses are named Cosmo and Bryn, and they are from Huntingdon-based Waldburg Shires stables.

The heavy horses are helping to cut the meadow, before turning and carting the hay on a traditional wain, with the bales being used to propagate more wildflower meadows across the city of Cambridge.

The hay will then be offered to local farmers as winter feed for livestock. For the past four years, the head gardener has chosen to harvest the wildflower meadow in this special way.

Bringing in local Shire horses not only makes for a beautiful sight, but also serves a practical purpose – the horses have a far lower impact on soil compaction and the flora of the meadow as they literally and metaphorically tread lightly over the earth.

On the second day of the harvest, head gardener Steve Coghill said: “The harvest is going very well.

“The meadow is being cut at its greenest and we have seen spiny restharrow causing problems with the turning, however with some handy work from gardeners across many colleges we are sorting it out.

“We are expecting a bumper harvest of bales that will help to create more wildflower meadows across Cambridge.”

Ahead of the ploughing, Steve noted: “After five years, our famous wildflower meadow is coming into its own and expressing itself.

“This year, we have seen bee orchids, pyramidal orchids, common spotted orchids and a rare and wonderful lizard orchid, whose appearance created a great stir for horticulturalists and botanists alike.

“The meadow is coming to harvest at its greenest and most lush ever, and we are very excited to welcome the Waldburg Stables Shires back for the fourth year to bring a flavour of harvesting from times gone by.”

The college has had students, staff and alumni, as well as gardeners from various Cambridge colleges, attend one or more of the days of the harvest.

Modelled on the East Anglian countryside at the turn of the 20th century, the wildflower meadow at King’s was planted in 2019 over a portion of its iconic Back Lawn, first laid in 1772.

The meadow was initially conceived as a five-year project to increase biodiversity and amenity value while decreasing carbon dioxide emissions.