On Monday 4th July we hosted a Grass ID training day at Parsonage Farm. The focus was on grasses of Herefordshire farmland. The lead trainer for the day, Stuart Hedley, kicked off proceedings by explaining the basic structure of grasses and the key terminology used to describe these features. The group then visited two sites, stopping en route to highlight the key differences between ‘foxtail’-like inflorescence type grasses and the open panicled species.

In groups of 3 or 4 participants then put this new knowledge into practice by trying to identify all of the grass species within a defined 2x2m quadrat.

Finally, on returning to the starting point, everyone had the opportunity to recap and ask any additional questions as well as to look at some grass specimens more closely under a microscope.

A big thank you to Stuart Hedley who led the session and to Lyn and Richard Langford for hosting the event.

If you want to also have a go at identifying grasses check out all the resources on our website https://www.herefordshiremeadows.org.uk/resources/survey-monitoring/

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