At our AGM on 3rd December Trustee Mark Wood paid a well-deserved tribute to James Hawkins who has been at the helm of Herefordshire Meadows since the group formed in 2016. James was at the first meeting at The Bunch of Carrots where the founding 30 members decided to apply to Natural England’s Facilitation Fund. Since then Herefordshire Meadows has… Read more →
Caroline Hanks
Countryside Stewardship Higher-Tier. Details released of new tier of ELMs
Last week Defra released details of the new CSHT scheme and you can review the 132 management actions and 151 capital items in CSHT. The scheme is opening initially through a controlled rollout of invited land managers with plans for CSHT to be fully open for applicants later in 2025. All the details are in the link above / below including… Read more →
Diverse swards: grassland management for soil, biodiversity and profit
On Wednesday evening, Herefordshire Meadows hosted a joint event with Pasture for Life, delving into the myriad benefits of diverse swards in productive farming systems. The event was held at Upper Pengethley Farm, kindly hosted by the Partridge family. Previously a mixed farm, the 260 acre parcel has made the change from arable to herbal leys, permanent pasture, and native… Read more →
Research Evidence Gaps on Meadow Diversity and Grazing Strategy exposed
Jo Riggall’s Grassland Gap talk in February highlighted that grassland is often the poor relation compared with peatland and woodland and this is clearly the case when we look at research evidence about the role of diverse, deep rooted, well rested swards and the ecosystem services they provide in addition to food production. With Environment Agency funding hosted by Herefordshire… Read more →
Landscape Recovery projects in Herefordshire with potential for grassland restoration
DEFRA have announced a list of 34 successful Landscape Recovery Projects. The good news is that there are two in Herefordshire See the DEFRA announcement here: Landscape Recovery: sharing the successful second round projects – Farming (blog.gov.uk) Both projects contain elements of grassland creation and restoration including floodplain meadow, lowland meadow and wet grassland opportunities. Several Herefordshire Meadows members expressed interest… Read more →
Wonderful waxcaps walk at Eaton Camp 23 October 2023
Jo Weightman led a group of Herefordshire Meadows members on a walk at Eaton Camp on 23 October 2023 courtesy of National Trust. The cattle had been turned off 2 weeks before and grassland fungi were easy to find despite the recent heavy rainfall; including waxcaps, spindles, club fungi, corals, bonnets and mottlegills. Thank you Jo for an excellent morning… Read more →
MEADOWS FORUM 2023 – a full house and massive enthusiasm for Diverse Swards
On 23rd September 2023 over 70 people took part in 5th Herefordshire Meadows FORUM, the first since 2020 James Hawkins, Herefordshire Meadows chaired our inaugural AGM as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation and reported on activities since the CIO was formed on 2 March 2022. He also updated us on the many achievements of group members since the last FORUM in… Read more →
Pasture and Profit in Protected Landscapes – including Wye Valley and Malvern Hills AONBs
Pasture for Life have recently been awarded funding by the Shropshire Hills, Wye Valley and Malvern Hills AONBs to run a free, innovative mentoring and events programme until 2025 for farmers interested in nature friendly or regenerative farming practices. The offer includes: A comprehensive series of on-farm events & webinars across all three regions covering a wide range of topics.… Read more →
Meadow walk at Far House Farm – the power of natural regeneration to restore a mosaic of meadow, pasture, woodland and orchard
The final meadow walk of the season was at Far House Farm, Maescoed on 11th July with many thanks to our hosts and generous Herefordshire Meadows supporters Joanna and Bruce Jenkyn Jones. We started next to lovely flowery strips of meadow plants beside the drive that were created after nearby building work and were treated to a scything demo there… Read more →
Become a member of Herefordshire Meadows CIO
You will know from recent newsletters and Herefordshire Meadows website how we’ve grown since 2016 from 30 core members to a thriving network of over 550 people. We are now established as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation and you can read more about us Who we are What we do Why we’re here We want to thank everyone who’s working with… Read more →