Welcome to our June Newsletter. It has been catch-up time for meadows this month after a slow start to spring. On our first meadow walk event of the year at Bromyard Down we were treated to a lovely evening in the sun with far reaching views across to the Malvern Hills, and plenty of emerging flowers to admire and puzzle over. There are more Meadow Walks and other events coming up over the next few weeks so see below to book your places now.
This update also features information about our FREE membership offer as we continue to transition from a discussion group to a fully-fledged charity, see below for more details.
Peter Tierney, a founding member of Herefordshire Meadows who pioneered green hay strewing in Herefordshire, is partially retiring and his hay making machinery is up for sale (see photo below). We would like to pay tribute to the wonderful work Peter has done over decades to manage wildflower meadows in Herefordshire. His contribution to the preservation and restoration of meadows has been enormous. Thank you Peter.
- Upcoming events:
Sunday 18th June 14:00 – 17:30 Open Meadow and Garden Event at Castle House, Eardisley HR3 6NT
An opportunity to visit one of our 2020 meadow restoration sites, uniquely situated on the footprint of Eardisley castle and kindly hosted by Blair Priday. Plant sale. Tea and cakes. All in aid of Hereford Choral Society. Entry £5. Children under 12 free. No dogs. Click here for more details
Friday 30th June – National Meadows Day – Herefordshire’s Coronation Meadow 10 years on, 2pm – 4pm at Hurstans, Sollers Hope, HR1
National Meadows Day is Plantlife’s annual event held at locations around the country each Summer to celebrate our magnificent meadows. This event at Hurstans, led by Herefordshire Meadows, is a chance to visit one of the original coronation meadow project restoration sites. Seed from the county Coronation Meadow, Plantlife’s Joan’s Hill was introduced in 2013 and in 2022 the site was selected as a new Local Wildlife Site. Kindly hosted by Fiona Fyshe.
Booking through Herefordshire Rural Hub bookings@herefordshireruralhub.co.uk
Joining instructions will be sent after booking.
Thursday 6th July – Pollinator Monitoring and Meadow Walk with Indie Jones at Colwall Orchard, Colwall 5 – 7pm
Guided walk and a chance to learn about important meadows research and pollinator monitoring techniques, from Liverpool University PHD researcher Indie Jones. Kindly hosted by Colwall Orchard Group and Lindsay Williams.
Booking through Herefordshire Rural Hub bookings@herefordshireruralhub.co.uk
Joining instructions will be sent after booking.
Tuesday 11th July – Evening Meadow Walk with Herefordshire Meadows, 3.30pm – 5.30pm at Far House Farm, Lower Maes-Coed, HR2
Guided walk through the meadows at Lower House Farm, a chance to see them at their mid-summer best and learn about their management. Kindly hosted by Joanna & Bruce Jenkyn Jones
Booking through Herefordshire Rural Hub bookings@herefordshireruralhub.co.uk
Joining instructions will be sent after booking.
Saturday 15th July from 11am – Shropshire Hills Hay Meadow Festival at Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre
A fun filled family day to celebrate wildflower meadows and their wealth of wildlife. With guided walks, family activities, talks and demonstration, a bio-blitz, arts and crafts tent, information stands and a music stage as well as a barbeque and bar.
Tickets available in advance or on the day, visit below for more info:
https://www.shropshirehillsaonb.co.uk/aonb-events/shropshire-hills-hay-meadow-festival
- Catch Up:
Get the Marches Buzzing Project – Buglife & Herefordshire Meadows team up.
Herefordshire Meadows are collaborating with Buglife, the Invertebrate Conservation Trust, on their ‘Get the Marches Buzzing’ project to restore wildflower meadows in Shropshire and North Herefordshire. This year the project will see around 13ha of meadows being restored in North Herefordshire, centred around the National Trust properties at Croft Castle but also including privately owned farms and small holdings, using seed donated from local species rich meadows.
Get the Marches Buzzing is part of Buglife’s UK-wide B-Lines Project
(https://www.buglife.org.uk/our-work/b-lines/), and had its online launch event on the 25th April, with talks from conservation officer Kate Jones and Herefordshire Meadows advisor Rory Johnson, available online here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKEPLo5DDFk
Waterhay Farm Field Trip – Farming on a floodplain
On 27th April floodplain owners and managers from Herefordshire were treated to a tour of Waterhay Farm on the upper Thames floodplain, where Andy Rumming and family are running a successful and diversified business on floodplain meadows.
An opportunity for land managers to see what might be possible on a Wye Valley floodplain.
Many thanks to the Environment Agency and the Wye Valley AONB Wye Water Resources Project for funding this trip, and to Andy Rumming and family for hosting and letting us sample some of their delicious produce.
A wite up and useful links can be found on the Herefordshire Meadows Website:
https://www.andyrummingsbeef.co.uk/
Floodplain Meadows in the Wye Valley
On the 16th May 27 advisors from 13 organisations working in the Wye catchment gathered at Brockhampton Hall for a training day on Floodplain Meadows, funded by Environment Agency and Wye Valley AONB. Emma Rothero and David Gowing of the Floodplain Meadows Partnership led a day of talks and an interactive session at Fawley Court floodplain meadows.
A wealth of interesting and useful information from the day can be found on the HM website:
https://www.herefordshiremeadows.org.uk/towards-a-strategy-for-restoring-floodplain-meadows-in-the-wye-valley/ and on the Floodplain Meadows Partnership website: https://floodplainmeadows.org.uk/
Many thanks to our hosts for the day Mark Wood and Chris Hudson, who took the hall-full of attendees out on a tour and provided them with a delicious lunch of their own grass-fed beef.
The first Meadows Walk of the year, at Bromyard Downs.
On the 22nd May twenty nine keen attendees set off across Bromyard Downs in the early evening sunshine for the first of this year’s Meadow Walks. James Hawkins, Chair of the Bromyard Downs Commoners Association, tenant farmer at Warren Farm and Herefordshire Meadows’ Chair of Trustees, kindly led the tour through the land he manages, including 2 meadows recently converted from arable crop and species-poor grassland into impressive wildflower meadows, and we had the chance to discuss the methods used and lessons learned.
Attendees also got the chance to speak to University of Liverpool PHD researcher Indie Jones. Indie is looking into invertebrate populations on grasslands across the country, hoping to deliver supporting evidence for the use of wildlife corridors as a conservation tool for pollinators (e.g. Buglife’s B-Lines project), and helping to inform future conservation efforts.
A delightful start to the season and we look forward to seeing you at the next of our Meadow Walks! See below for info.
Wye Valley Partnership Seminar – Enhancing water catchment through innovative management.
There was a fascinating day of talks and discussion at Goodrich Village Hall on the 16th March, focussing on methods of conserving and enhancing water resources.
An important topic and some interesting solutions from experts in soil and land management, agroforestry, and natural flood management.
The days talks by Stephen Briggs (Abacus Agriculture, Nuffield Scholar), Niels Corfield (Regenerative Agriculture Consultant), and Chris Uttley (Stroud Valleys Natural Flood management Officer), are available online at:
https://www.wyevalleyaonb.org.uk/water-catchment-management/
Moor Meadows – Spring Talk Series
If you missed out on any of the Moor Meadows spring talk series these are now available on the Moor Meadows YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@moormeadows1364/featured
Talks include ‘A Celebration of Wildflower Meadows’ by ecologist George Peterken, ‘How to create a meadow in your lawn’ by author of Gardening for Wildlife, Adrian Thomas, and ‘Wild Meadows’ by ecologist John Walters.
- Other Opportunities:
Butterfly Conservation Land Managers Survey
Butterfly Conservation are currently developing a land management advice and guidance ‘Hub’ for land managers and land advisors who are managing, or want to start to manage, for butterflies and moths.
They envisage this Hub could contain advice and guidance in a range of different formats including written, video, audio, training and events, and are asking that you fill in a short 10-minute survey to help ensure that they create a Hub that works for you.
Survey here:
Butterfly Conservation Land Managers Survey (smartsurvey.co.uk)
The survey will remain open until 31st July 2023 – please fill it in if you can.
Peter Tierney equipment sale
Peter Tierney, a founding member of Herefordshire Meadows who pioneered green hay strewing in Herefordshire, is partially retiring and his hay making machinery is up for sale.
It would be wonderful if this kit could remain in use as a tool for managing local hay meadows.
We would like to pay tribute to the wonderful work Peter has done over the decades to help manage wildflower meadows in Herefordshire. His contribution to the preservation and restoration of meadows has been enormous. Thank you Peter.
More info here https://www.herefordshiremeadows.org.uk/peter-tierneys-high-quality-pedestrian-hay-making-kit-for-sale/
Contact Peter Tierney on peter@farmland-conservation.co.uk 01873 860376
Request to support a local artist:
Paul Ligas is a photographic artist and photographer who is running an Arts Council funded project exploring the suitability and seasonality of using native flowers and plants in making photographic prints. The technique is called an Anthotype. Paul would love to hear from landowners in Herefordshire & Worcestershire who have non-endangered native plants growing in meadows, woodland, etc who would be happy to let him sustainably gather a handful of flowers to test making a print with. You can contact Paul by email using the Contact form on the following site. You can read more about the project here: https://paulligasvisualart.uk/native-anthotype-exploration/
Become a Member of Herefordshire Meadows CIO:
Please read this NEWS post and sign up today to become a member of Herefordshire Meadows CIO
Donate:
We are now fully registered for donations through the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF). If you would like to make a donation to support the preservation, restoration and creation of species rich grasslands across Herefordshire you can do this by following this link. https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/23639#!/DonationDetails
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Herefordshire Meadows Team