Herefordshire Meadows is now involved in 1 of 6 Nature Recovery Network pilots across the country. We’re in partnership with Natural England, Plantlife, GWCT and Clarence House. It’s a wonderful chance to showcase effective ways to create more Coronation Meadows and link pollinator habitats across our mixed farming landscape and to feed our experience into future agri-envrionment system (ELMs) design.… Read more →
Tag Archive for news
Healthy grassland soils at Upper Pengethley
Herefordshire Meadows first discussion meeting about soil health was held at Upper Pengethley Farm on 16 October courtesy of Julian and Sue Partridge with Kate Speke Adams leading the session. A Grassland soil health Resources Sheet is available with links to the materials available on the day including how / when to dig spade spits to look for worms and… Read more →
Late summer activity enhancing grassland in Herefordshire
After a packed summer of meadow events, discussions, training in grassland assessment and wild plant ID many members have gone home and cracked on with great work to restore, enhance and create meadows in Herefordshire. So far we’ve had photos of hay making and hay strewing and would love to have any more photos of Herefordshire Meadows projects in action.… Read more →
Roadside Verges – Herefordshire’s micro meadows
Suzanne Noble, Sally Webster and Anne Crane have completed a survey of Herefordshire’s 33 roadside verge Local wildlife Sites with mixed results. Some are thriving, others not. Verge cutting is usually done local contractors, farmers and lengthsmen or by Balfour Beatty for Herefordshire Council and with varying attention paid to verges of high wildlife value. Of the original 33 designated… Read more →
Grazing available at Breinton Springs (National Trust)
If you are interested in a seasonal grazing licence on 11.5 acres ( 4.7 ha) riverside meadow and traditional orchard on the historic site at Breinton Springs just west of Hereford on N bank of River Wye please contact Anna Watts for further information. The site is in very low input grassland management and orchard options in an HLS scheme.… Read more →
Restoring Meadows at Brockhampton from garden to landscape scale
Over 30 meadow owners enjoyed the chance to hear first hand about meadow restoration at Brockhampton Cottage. Peter Clay first started in the area near the drive with a bespoke wildflower mix from a seed supplier and added plant plugs to create a designed wildflower meadow based on typical Herefordshire plants. Since 2013 the work has evolved to use local… Read more →
Herbal leys, permanent pastures and meadows, opportunities for reducing feed costs in a conservation focussed business model
Following Jonty Brunyee’s talk at Herefordshire Meadows Forum in February we took up the offer of a visit and headed off to Conygree Farm, Aldsworth, Glos on 10 July during the hottest week of the summer so far. seed brush harvester discussing meat box… Read more →
Detective work with a quadrat – plant ID on the Bromyard Downs
Herefordshire Meadows and Worcestershire Pollinator Groups met on the Bromyard Downs on 3rd July for plant ID training led by Stuart Hedley with Sue Holland and Peter Garner. Several members of the Bromyard Downs Commoners Association (BDCA) joined the group as we looked at plants in three different grassland areas on the Common. Although close together these areas have been… Read more →
Green Hay Strewing Demonstration by Peter Tierney
Herefordshire Meadows Group visited Upper Bryn Farm Longtown to see Peter Tierney’s hay strewing in action on 24 July 2018. Left -Harrowing receptor to get 50-60% bare ground – Centre – minibaler – Right – bale rolled out before tedding Left – Tedding out green hay on receptor site showing width of swath after tedding out in 2… Read more →
Monitoring marathon at Hurstans Coronation Meadows
Herefordshire Meadows Group spent 22 June at Hurstans Coronation Meadows in Sollers Hope hosted by Fiona and Chips Fyshe learning a detailed monitoring technique with Stuart Hedley as their trainer and in collaboration with Joe Costley of Plantlife. We used a 1 x 1 m quadrat subdivided into 9 smaller squares We did the first quadrat together, refreshing ID skills… Read more →