Our work at Morden Hall Park

Heavy horses at Morden Hall Park 

Heavy horses are once again cutting the hay meadows at Morden Hall Park. Old-fashioned hay cuts using heavy horses offer many benefits to both the natural environment and the rare horse breed doing the work. 

In 2018 we brought heavy horses in to harrow and cut to manage our meadows for the first time in many years. Three years on we are already seeing the benefits of using heavy horses over machinery to maintain our meadows.

We’re planning to bring the horses back twice annually; once to harrow in February to help weaker plants to thrive by clearing dead matter and, secondly, to cut to do a hay cut in late summer to enable wildflower seeds to disperse. 

Benefits of traditional methods 

Compared to modern mowing machinery heavy horses offer lower levels of noise disturbance, soil compaction and impact on flora and fauna, as well as a much lower carbon footprint. 

Flower meadows benefit from harrowing, cutting and raking with traditional working horses in the longer term too, slowly regenerating and allowing species to recover. We’re hoping to see wildflowers we’ve never seen before in the South Park. 

Keeping heavy horses in work 

Operation Centaur uses Shire horses, one of several breeds of heavy horse. Heavy horses have been dramatically impacted by the increase in mechanisation in past decades and Shires are now listed on the Rare Breeds watch-list as ‘at risk’. Find out more about Operation Centaur here.

How to get involved 

Check the What’s On section of our website for details of community volunteering days around the hay cut. 

We also host regular Weekend of Wildlife events. This brings our staff, volunteers, visiting experts and visitors together to  explore and discover the variety of wildlife, plant and fungus that call Morden Hall Park home. These valuable events help us understand where wildlife live in the park, so we can better look after it, whilst providing a great learning experience for children and teens.

Join the Nature Group 

Morden Hall Park Nature Group is a team group of adult National Trust volunteers who get together monthly to survey where wildlife lives in the park, so we can look after it.

The Group aims to monitor, protect and promote nature conservation and biodiversity in Morden Hall Park. Each year an Annual Report is produced detailing results and observations  

The Nature Group also lead and run the Weekend of Wildlife and other nature themed events.  

Group meetings take place at least six times a year on the third Thursday of the month in Morden Hall Park.  To find out more and to join in, email mhpnaturegroup@nationaltrust.org.uk or visit the Morden Hall Park Nature Group Twitter page. 

Maintaining the wetland at Morden Hall Park 

The wetland has been a feature at Morden Hall Park for many years. The previous owner of the estate, Gilliat Hatfeild, mentioned marshy ground in the North Park in his records. Originally this wetland was gravel beds and it then became the marshy ground we have today. 

Wetlands are valuable because some species have adapted to live only in this habitat. Wetlands are threatened and rare in London and are one of the Trust’s priority habitats.

Morden Hall Park’s wetland is uniquely diverse for such a small area. Ongoing maintenance work is vital to preserve this diversity. 

Why do we need to cut back the wetland beds?

Wetlands are largely a man-made habitat. If we don’t cut them back, trees encroach and reclaim the land and the area becomes a carr woodland (wet woodland). While maintaining the wetland, we want to create a range of habitats and heights and manage the area to best support the resident flora and fauna.

Within the wetland there are sedge beds and reedbeds. The sedge beds are cut every two years and the reedbeds are cut on an eight-year rotation. Sedge is thicker and needs machinery to cut, but in 2018 for the first time we cut both reeds and rushes with heavy horses. 

Any work that we do has to take account of the natural features of the land. There’s a big ditch going through the middle and emptying into the River Wandle, which means when we drain the wetland to begin the cut we have to drain it in one go.

This puts time pressure on the maintenance work, because we don’t want to drain the wetland for too long so as not to unduly stress the flora and fauna living there. 

Early in 2019, while the wetland was drained, we created new water habitats by digging new ‘scrapes’, shallow depressions around a foot deep. We also used the opportunity to enhance the habitat in as many ways as possible, including coppicing scrub.