Some much needed rain at the end of August allowed us to begin our Botanica project grassland restoration works. With the help of some fantastic volunteers, we spread just over 50kg of wonderful, local provenance, brush-harvested seed across a 1.5ha site near to Wellington.
We have two events upcoming this month. We have a waiting list for the event on the 15th September.
We are starting to plan our autumn and winter activities and are on the lookout for a suitable host location to hold a waxcap walk 5 years on from the one at the Sturts. Please get in touch if you have a field that you expect to be full of fungi in October / November and would like to share or learn waxcap and other fungi ID skills.
Upcoming events:
Thursday 15th September 3.00 for 3.30pm – 7.00pm Celebrating flower rich grassland: past successes and future opportunities to integrate wood pasture and wood meadow with farming at Fernhall Farm, Brilley HR3 6JP
Fully booked – waiting list only
Hosted at Fernhall Farm courtesy of Nick and Nicci Lloyd. A chance to celebrate some of the many successes of the past six years and look forward and discuss some of the opportunities on the horizon. Guest speaker, Dan Carne of the Woodmeadow Trust will talk about mosaic grassland systems and how new funding options may be able to support the establishment and management of these habitats. This will be followed by a farm walk where there will be a chance to discuss how the theory converts to implementation on the ground with input from Bob Silverwood (Natural England) Alice Keenan (National Trust) and Jonny Pugh (WUF) . Further details including how to book can be found here.
Wednesday 28th September 6.00 – 8.00pm (followed by refreshments) Woolhope Dome Workshop – Developing Natural Capital and agri-environment schemes in the Woolhope Dome at Woolhope Village Hall HR1 4QS
Discover how farm businesses and small holdings within the Woolhope Dome can benefit from landscape scale environmental projects in a high input cost and high food price scenario. Speakers will include Billy Lewis of Boycefield farm and recent winner of the Farm Carbon Toolkit’s Mixed Soil Farmer of the year award, Kate Speke-Adams (Wye & Usk Foundation) and Caroline Hanks (Herefordshire Meadows). Further details including how to book can be found here. As space is limited, priority is for those with landholdings within the Woolhope Dome area.
Tuesday 18th October 12:00 noon – 6.00pm – Herefordshire Rural Business Advice Day 2022 at Hereford Racecourse, Roman Road, Hereford HR4 9QU
The 12th Herefordshire Rural Business Advice Day will be held on Tuesday 18th October and is free to join. There will be stands representing many aspects of farming and rural business as well as a series of presentations on the most important topics affecting the rural sector in the county today. No booking required just drop in anytime. More information can be found on the Herefordshire Rural Hub website here.
Catch up:
Test and Trials Stocktake
Watch the recent webinar hosted by DEFRA giving an update on the progress of their test and trials schemes here. The password to access the recording is FuA#Nr6&
Ribwort Plantain reduces methane emissions
A recent research paper published by the American Dairy Science Association provides quantitative evidence for the positive impact that ribwort plantain (Plantago lanceolata) can have in terms of reducing methane emissions in ruminants. You can read the full paper here.
Future Farming Podcast: everything you need to know about the Sustainable Farming Incentive
On 26th July Jonathan Marsden, Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) lead, talked with Cambridgeshire farmer Martin Lines about all things SFI and environmental land management. Listen again here.
Get Involved:
Waxcap Walk
Do you have a field full of fungi? We are looking for a candidate site to host a grassland fungi and waxcap event in early November. The site will need to be:
- Accessible
- Have parking space nearby for up to 20 attendees and space to set up a table for our finds on the day.
If you think you have a suitable site and would be happy to host the event please get in touch with either Caroline Hanks (caroline.hanks@farming4wildlife.co.uk) or Rory Johnson (rory@herefordshiremeadows.org.uk) and we can come out and do a recce.
Call for evidence on methane suppressing feed products
The UK Government has put out a call for evidence to explore the potential for methane suppressing feed projects which will help inform future policy development. Members of the agricultural and scientific communities as well as the wider public are encouraged to feed in information on this topic by completing an online survey which can be found here.
Should you feel inclined this is also a chance to mention any of the benefits that you observe of grazing grassland with deep rooting broad leaved herbs and other aspects of regenerative livestock farming that impact the carbon cycle as well as the many benefits these swards provide.
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Herefordshire Meadows Team
Herefordshire Meadows is registered in England and Wales as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. Registration no. 1198105