An opportunity for anyone who’d like to be involved in a meadow / orchard restoration project in a spectacular location in the Wye Valley. Seeking partner funders to join a small consortium to buy a remnant traditional orchard with flower rich pasture overlooking the River Wye and the Black Mountains. See https://www.sunderlands.co.uk/farms-land/property/breinton-common-hereford-6002 The auction is on July 29th 2020 with… Read more →
Have your say in the ELM policy discussion – closes 31 July 2020
This is a chance to feed your ideas and views on grassland, and other crops and habitats, to The Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme that is the new agricultural policy for England. You can feedback to DEFRA on the discussion questions as an individual You can also feed comments on meadows and diverse swards to Caroline Hanks who is collating… Read more →
everything you need to know about yellow dandelion type flowers but were afraid to ask
We had a virtual plant ID day on 26th June led by Stuart Hedley with photographs of plants sent in by the Group, and Stuarts very helpful herbarium sheets of confusing pairs of plants that often get us scratching our heads. There are 3 news additions to the problem pairs on the Survey and Monitoring page of the website which… Read more →
Bumblebee ID photos on Stephen Falk’s Flikr page a great boon to all meadow surveyors
Stephen Falk has the most wonderful Flikr page with excellent bumble bee photos to help when you have a bee on a flower or in a pot in the field. And when you need to compare with your own photos. Big thanks to Hayley Herridge for introducing us to this site and for the virtual workshops she has run for… Read more →
Bumblebee survey and ID virtual workshops 2020 and upcoming bee clinic
Great to have so many people with us over the last two weeks for Bumblebee survey refresher and ID sessions led by Hayley Herridge, Conservation Officer, Buglife. We have also refined Herefordshire Meadows guidance on bumblebee monitoring for meadow restoration for 2019 Meadow making pilots, 2020 Pollinator Meadows and anyone else wanting to survey bumblebees. Please refer to this before… Read more →
Multi species leys Part 1 – virtual field day webinar with Agricology
If you missed this webinar with speakers from Duchy College TOMS project, North Wyke ( Rothamsted) and others on all the joys, benefits and challenges of establishing herbal leys. There are references to more permanent native swards as well. You can listen again on Youtube Read more →
Opportunities for farmers making the most of grazing – Russell Carrington PFLA webinar
Last weeks Transforming the Future of Land Management webinar had a great introduction to Pasture Fed Livestock Association with Russell Carrington talking about Opportunities for farmers for making the most of grazing. Lucy Bates from LEAF then talked about Integrating Resilience. Russ describes the importance of diverse swards for pasture fed livestock systems. You can listen again to the presentations … Read more →
PFLA host talk on soil health and regenerative farming practices 24 June
Talking Soil: Nicole Masters in conversation with Tim Williams Date: Wednesday 24th June Time: 7.30pm British Summer Time We are very excited to be able to bring to you one of the leading advocates and knowledge bases of regenerative farming practices. During this session Nicole will discuss the absolute importance of soil health within a pastured system, touching on… Read more →
Beetlemania – why we should love dung beetles and why do we need more of them?
Beetlemania – you’ll never pass a cowpat again without wanting to look inside. Regen Ag Chat on 26 May 2020 was on the topic of dungbeetles with Darren and Ceri Mann and Irish Dairy Farmer and Nuffield Scholar Bruce Thompson. This is the fourth Carbon Calling ReGen LIVE Chat with Liz Genever and Nic Renison. It’s well worth the time… Read more →
Video on Rapid Plant Monitoring just released
Stuart Hedley plant trainer and Herefordshire vice county plant recorder has made a short video with all you need to know about the Herefordshire Meadows rapid plant monitoring method You can watch on Youtube and see the Survey and Monitoring pages of the website for further information on ID guides, books and how to separate many of the “problem pairs”… Read more →