As the days draw shorter and shorter, take some time to explore or watch again the fantastic array of meadow related talks and webinars that have been taking place over the past year. Many of these are available free of charge on YouTube including the entire Floodplain Meadows 2021 Partnership Conference (see below). Read on to also find a link to a webinar that our meadow maker trainee, Maya Broadbank gave along with her fellow Plantlife trainees.
We have given details of another good winter activity you can be doing which is to make sure you either a) send us your BeeWalk data if it is part of one of the meadow maker projects in 2019, 2020 or 2021, or, if not and you have carried out a BeeWalk on your land b) upload any bee survey data you have collected over the summer onto the Bumblebee Conservation Trust’s main web platform.
We hope that you aren’t too despondent about the current lack of ambition for permanent diverse grassland swards and soils in the recent Sustainable Farming Incentive announcement. We are encouraging all livestock farmers and meadow owners to tell DEFRA and the wider public at every opportunity that the permanent swards we are managing and creating are part of the answer to the climate and ecological emergency as much as herbal leys and arable field margins which are included in SFI. We’re very aware of the long list of benefits for soil health, biodiversity, flood and drought resilience to name a few. All we are asking is for the practices we are adopting to be fairly valued and rewarded in all 3 strands of ELMs. Keep up the good work on this front and please suggest how we might work together more effectively to achieve this.
We are calling for anyone with potential species rich donor sites to get in touch as we look ahead to more restoration projects next year and for those who were part of the 2021 Meadow Makers project if you haven’t yet returned your tarpaulins and builders sacks please do get in touch and we will arrange collection.
That then just leaves us to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and we look forward to more exciting meadow activity in 2022!!
Catch up:
Floodplain Meadows Partnership Conference 2021
All of the talk recordings from the fourth, annual, Floodplain Meadows Partnership Conference are now available to watch online for free here.
Breathing new life: How the next generation of conservationists are making meadows matter
As part of their Fall into Nature series Plantlife invited all their meadow maker trainees, including our trainee Maya Broadbank, to share some of their thoughts and experiences of the traineeship. Listen to what they have all been up to here.
Managing meadows of all sizes with mowing
Not everyone has access to grazing to manage their meadow. Plantlife have created a fantastic new webpage on their Meadows Hub where you can read all about managing meadows of all sizes with mowing. You can read all their top tips and watch the instructional videos here.
Upcoming Events:
The More-Meadows’ Forum
Not just one event but many, many meadow related talks can be found on the More-Meadows Forum many of which are made open access on YouTube. Check out the webpage and subscribe for updates.
Get involved:
Forestry Commission study on farmer’s attitudes to trees
The Forestry Commission are starting a project about farmer cultural values and whether/how they intersect with trees. Eventually, we will be speaking to farmers from two case study areas, but first they are keen to interview some individuals who have a good understanding of farming values in general. This might be a farming advisor, someone with farming experience, someone who conducts research about/with farmers etc. If you are interested in taking part in this study contact Olivia Fitzgerald at olivia.fitzgerald@forestresearch.gov.uk.
UK Farm Discussion Group Network
The UK Farm Discussion Group Network is looking for farmers to join their grass roots, open discussions on some of the big topics affecting farming today. This is not a huge commitment as we are going for minimum input for our busy members and will complete 3 short 10 minute surveys each year on a range of farming topics. These provide data, for example to the DEFRA policy team including Janet Hughes, alongside other landowner organisastions in England. So this is a great chance to have your views represented nationally. If you are interested in putting yourself forward please email Caroline Hanks caroline.hanks@farming4wildlife.co.uk by Monday 20thDecember.
Species rich donor sites
We are always on the lookout for species rich grassland sites across the county that could be used as potential new seed donor sites for our restoration projects. We offer payments to the landowner for the seed and the way in which we harvest means that you will still be able to take your normal hay crop afterwards. If you think you have an area of grassland which may be of donor status please do get in touch with Sue Holland fsgarratt@btinternet.com.
Returning sacks and tarps: 2021 Meadow Makers
For any of our 2021 Meadow Makers who we haven’t yet collected our tarpaulins and builders sacks from please get in touch and we will arrange to come and pick them up.
BeeWalk Survey Scheme
Calling all 2019, 2020 and 2021 Meadow Makers – please do send in your bee survey data to us if you have not already done so. Many thanks to those who have sent data in already, thanks to Maya’s help most of it is now safely logged onto the Herefordshire Meadows section of the Beewalk website.
If you have done any bumblebee surveys this summer which have not been part of a meadow restoration project we encourage to still input the data yourself onto the Bumblebee Conservation Trust’s national database and help contribute to the vital long-term monitoring of bumblebee populations. You can register and submit your data here.
Follow us:
We now have Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin accounts. Please like and follow us.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,
Herefordshire Meadows Team