Sifting the seed harvest at Malvern Common

Over 6 days in late July, the Herefordshire Meadows seed harvesting team visited 6 very special meadows to spend a day collecting, sifting, sorting, weighing and distributing a total of 500kg of seed-rich mix, which this autumn will be used to restore around 27ha of grassland at 13 land holdings.

Many of this year’s restoration sites are in North Herefordshire, where landowners benefitted from funding from the former Kingpsan Insulation Community Trust, and received seed from sites near Bircher Common and Kington.  This year we also provided for several restoration sites in the far eastern edges of Herefordshire, and over the border into Glos. and Worcs., where FiPL funding from Malvern Hills National Landscape allowed us to harvest seed from the beautiful Malvern Common and a species-rich meadow at Bosbury.

Seed sifting

Another wet year posed challenges for the seed harvesting team, with the operation unable to proceed in wet conditions, and many sites having experienced a lush growth of grass after a wet spring and summer.  Long thick grass not only out-competes broad-leaved plants, but also poses a challenge for the brush seed harvester, which struggles to operate in a heavy sward.  The conditions also meant that some key species such as Common bird’s-foot trefoil were flowering rather late, and ripe seed pods few and far between.  Despite these challenges a wonderful harvest was collected and distributed, with highlights provided by the impressively diverse and flower-rich meadow at Bromyard Downs, and the bumper crop of orchids that many sites experienced this year.

A big thank you from Herefordshire Meadows to this year’s donor site owners, to our funders the former Kingspan Insulation Community Trust, the Malvern Hills National Landscape, Wye Valley National Landscape, Environment Agency and Herefordshire Council, and to Matt at Cobb’s Tree & Estate Services.

Could your meadow be a seed donor?

If you have flower-rich meadows with soft grasses which might be suitable for harvesting from please get in touch so we can pay you a visit!

Each spring we identify a selection of meadows which are suitable for providing seed to supply nearby restoration sites, and make arrangements to harvest seed later in the year before the hay is cut.  Each summer we then face the tricky business of dodging wet weather and coordinating activities so that we can harvest all sites when they are at their best, without unduly delaying the important business of making hay.

We provide a thank you payment to donor site owners for delaying their hay cut to accommodate us, and our seed harvesting operation is very light-touch – causing no damage to the hay crop.  The seed harvesting machine uses a high-speed rotating brush, which is lowered into the sward so that seed is brushed and sucked into a large hopper.  Some on-site hand is carried out to remove the bulk of stalks and leaves, leaving seed-rich remains to be bagged up for collection by restoration site owners to take home to dry.

Seed harvesting kit set up at Bromyard Downs