Saturday July 3rd was National Meadows Day, a day dedicated to our wonderful wildflower meadows. To mark the occasion Plantlife launched it’s new Meadows Hub which has loads of fantastic information on how to make and look after a meadow.
Here in Herefordshire we celebrated by hosting two events in Titley and near Bromyard respectively. At the morning event in Titley, participants were treated to a two hour farm walk around the Shawl Farm and Titley Mill. Along the way differing management and restoration approaches were discussed along with their varying merits. Complimentary habitat creation works were also considered including; hedges, rough edges, tree planting in the right place and hedge and field trees. There were lots of interesting questions put forward, demonstrating that nothing beats meeting in person in a meadow.
At the afternoon event near Bromyard, hosted by Herefordshire Meadows Chair James Hawkins, the group visited three fields; one that is to be restored as part of this year’s Meadow Makers project, one that was restored in 2019 and another which is being allowed to naturally enhance via gentle management. Along the way short presentations were made on the role of meadows in tackling the climate crisis, the importance of healthy soils and the impact of meadows on human wellbeing.
A big thank you to all our generous hosts; Jeremy and Nicky Mitchell and Christopher Goode in Titley and James and Victoria Hawkins at Warren Farm.