Baa-ckingham Palace!
SHEEP are grazing next to Buckingham Palace as part of a trial to help a wildflower meadow and lure the insects that rely on it.
The rare sheep breeds, including Oxford downs, whitefaced woodlands and southdowns, will spend the week grazing in Green Park, central London, under the watchful eye of shepherd Tom Davis.
Unlike commercial breeds of sheep which rely on supplementary feeding by farmers, the rare breeds thrive on a variety of plants, eating the tougher grass and trampling in the seeds from the wildflowers in the meadow. It is hoped this will prevent coarse grasses taking over in the park, encouraging a greater variety of pollinators and other insects that thrive in wildflower meadows and play an important role in food chains.
Project leader Dr Alice Laughton said: “We are very excited to be carrying out the first sheep-grazing trial in the royal parks.
“By increasing the biodiversity of the park grasslands, we hope to encourage the invertebrates that inhabit meadow grasslands to flourish, and it will help plan how we manage the parks in the future.”