Our grassland machinery survey (still available for you to complete) tells us that many of you struggle to find someone with small square or round baler to bale hay in small meadows around the County. Local environmental contractor James Davies is doing a feasibility study to see if he can fill that gap in Herefordshire – but we have to… Read more →
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Coronation Meadows in Herefordshire and a Royal Visitor at Ross on Wye
On 5th November Herefordshire Meadows had a display at Ross Market House during the visit of HRH The Prince of Wales to launch the Gilpin 2020 Festival. We were invited by Ross Town Council and the Wye Valley AONB as they have worked together to create an area of floodplain meadow beside… Read more →
Meadow making pilot summary September 2019
We’re in the final couple of weeks of sowing wildflower mixes this summer and are delighted to present a brief summary of work done so far on the 20 farms who joined the 2019 meadow making pilot 857 kgs of Herefordshire seed was harvested from 8 different farms using our brush seed harvesting service. This dried down to about 400… Read more →
Meadow hay for sale in Titley
Jeremy and Nicky Mitchell of Title plan to cut and bale up to 750 small square bales after July 14th – exact date TBC depending on the weather. The meadows are moderately flower rich and the hay is made without a conditioner. It may have some flower seeds remaining for low level enhancement by feeding out in winter as well… Read more →
Rapid Meadow Monitoring guidance available – have a go
Guidance for monitoring meadow plants and bumblebees is now available for all our members and for everyone in the Meadow Making pilot This is a great way for us to demonstrate the great things Herefordshire Meadows members are doing and to share what gets the best results in the field The 3 asks BEFORE the grass is mown – or… Read more →
Moseley Common meadow restoration success
Herefordshire Meadows members helped Tony Norman of The Leen, Pembridge spread green hay from Moseley Common SSSI on a small adjacent improved ryegrass / clover ley in summer 2017. This was a challenging site that has been part of the dairy grazing rotation for years and the ground was also very dry and hard to harrow. But we can report… Read more →
Countryside Stewardship now open for new applications
Applications for Countryside Stewardship Schemes including Mid-Tier, Higher Tier, Wildlife Offers, Hedgerows & Boundaries, all opened on 18th February 2019. Because options for flower rich grassland such as GS6 need endorsement and these fields must be on the priority habitat maps we have written a guidance note for Herefordshire Meadows members. Please ask for advice on how to get the… Read more →
Hedge laying weekend course in the sun
February 23 and 24 saw Herefordshire Meadows members learning the art of hedge laying under instruction from Martin Hales at Sollers Hope. Fiona Fyshe was having a hedge laid on the farm and kindly arranged this training weekend. The weather was unseasonably warm for hedge laying – but great fun was had by all. Everyone learned to pleach having received… Read more →
Healthy grassland soils at Upper Pengethley
Herefordshire Meadows first discussion meeting about soil health was held at Upper Pengethley Farm on 16 October courtesy of Julian and Sue Partridge with Kate Speke Adams leading the session. A Grassland soil health Resources Sheet is available with links to the materials available on the day including how / when to dig spade spits to look for worms and… Read more →
Late summer activity enhancing grassland in Herefordshire
After a packed summer of meadow events, discussions, training in grassland assessment and wild plant ID many members have gone home and cracked on with great work to restore, enhance and create meadows in Herefordshire. So far we’ve had photos of hay making and hay strewing and would love to have any more photos of Herefordshire Meadows projects in action.… Read more →