On the evening of the 8th October Herefordshire Meadows and Wye Valley National Landscape held an outreach event for local landowners at Goodrich Village Hall. This event was to promote a new funding opportunity offered by the National Grid’s Landscape Enhancement Initiative fund, for landowners within 3km of the high voltage power lines (see below map of project area). With… Read more →
A busy 2023 for Herefordshire Meadows
Herefordshire Meadows has had a busy year creating around 71ha of new species-rich grasslands at 24 sites across Herefordshire: 36.49ha of new species-rich grassland was created thanks our 2-year Botanica project funded by WWF & Airwick (a total of 63.5ha of species rich grassland created over 2022-2023). 18ha was created in North Herefordshire in partnership with Buglife, as part of… 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 →
Kingspan Meadow Restoration project launched
We are excited to announce that, thanks to a generous donation from the former Kingspan Insulation Community Trust, we are able to support meadow restoration works next year across North Herefordshire. The following threshold criteria apply to all proposed sites: Minimum area 1ha (2.5 acres) 2. Needs to be able to have a hay cut and aftermath grazing. … Read more →
Landscape Enhancement Initiative in the Wye Valley AONB – Call for Applicants
Do you manage land between Coughton and Marstow? You are invited to Goodrich Village Hall, HR9 6HX November 8th 5 – 7 pm to find out about Funding opportunities for habitat enhancement such as flower rich grassland restoration and creation, wood pasture, hedge planting and restoration, orchard creation Free advisory visit to explore your objectives from local advisers AONB application… Read more →
Flower Rich Grassland Management & Restoration Advice Service for Land Managers in the Wye Valley AONB
Herefordshire Meadows is excited to be involved in a new Wye Valley AONB project to provide support to grassland farmers and land managers in the Herefordshire portion of the Wye Valley AONB. This work is funded by the Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) Programme, which is being administered by the Wye Valley AONB on behalf of DEFRA, as part of… 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 →
September Newsletter
All of this year’s meadow seed harvest had been dried, cleaned, weighed and distributed by the end of August, and at the start of September we began the exciting next stage of our restoration projects: to prepare the sites and begin spreading seed. We also hosted our first FORUM since 2020 and our first AGM since becoming a registered charity. … Read more →
August Newsletter
Welcome to our August Newsletter. After a dry month and record-breaking heat in June we have been treated to one of the wettest Julys on record, and a very difficult year for making hay. Our seed harvesting plans have also been very disrupted, but with the occasional dry day we have managed to harvest from all our intended donor sites… Read more →