The more nature depleted the country the harder it is to reverse that trend. The loss of cultural memory of living with large animals and vested interests the main issues.

25 min walk from the station….

Some have definitely decreased in area but not gone. But things like potentilla neumanniana still maintained as well as draba muralis on anthills. But then tall herb specialists more susceptible to grazing thriving such as sax hypnoides and sedum telephium

Only personal observation/survey! I might have some photos somewhere!

2.Richer even than the short cropped adjacent grassland, supporting species not found in the grazed areas, including some nationally scarce species, and yellow meadow ant hills the size of armchairs. We do need both though.

1. Yes really important to have good monitoring in place and be honest about winners and losers so that we can learn. Interestingly in the Peak District there are areas of limestone grassland ungrazed for 30 years or more which are now as rich, if not richer (200+ vascular plants).

Yeah true. It’s not evidence either though. But I guess the question is, if there is a quantifiable biodiversity win: does it matter?

It’s an interesting one where evidence does not exist for some of these species. The same for is true European Bison (rather than steppe bison) in the UK.This paper from Spain talks about it conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Stands to reason because y’know…flowers…but nice to se it confirmed.

That’s a corker!