In the last week of January 2026 some 30 stakeholders have been invited to join the Farming and Countryside Programme’s ‘SFI Programme Forum meeting’, to discuss how they think the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) could be streamlined and changed, including whether some payments could be decreased. Read more →
Last month Plantlife published a new briefing paper which it is sharing with the DEFRA Director, Mike Rowe outlining the changes they and other grassland charities would like to see made to the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) to ensure the true value of species rich grasslands are unlocked and that permanent grasslands aren’t inadvertently lost to temporary herbal leys, among… Read more →
We had a large turnout on a sweltering afternoon at Brockhampton Cottage on Wednesday for the 2025 National Meadows Day walk led by Peter Clay and the Garden and Estate Teams. Many thanks to Peter for sharing the remarkable achievement that is his large area of meadow, created on land ranging from former building foundations to ryegrass swards. How wonderfully… Read more →
Our Zoom talk last Wednesday from Plantlife’s Grassland Advocacy Officer Jo Riggall was attended by 30 species-rich grassland enthusiasts, who all wanted to know more about this precious habitat getting the recognition it deserves. It is available to watch online here and the presentation slides here. Jo gave a summary of the impressive work that Plantlife has achieved managing, restoring… Read more →
To celebrate National Meadows Day 2023 Fiona Fyshe gave us a tour of the beautiful meadows at Sollers Hope on Friday 30th June. In 2015 this 3.6ha site at Hurstans received brush harvested seed from Joans Hill Coronation Meadow, a Plantlife nature reserve. The hay meadow now boast a healthy population of Green Winged Orchids as well as many other… Read more →
Ten years ago, the former Prince of Wales launched Coronation Meadows in 2013 to honour the 60th year of the late Queen’s accession to the throne. In the face of the catastrophic loss of 97% of our wildflower meadows since the 1930s, the plan was to create new and restored meadows using donor seed from remaining fragments of ancient and… Read more →
The 2021 Great British Wildflower Hunt has just begun and this year Plantlife have developed a new, free surveying app ‘Survey123’ so that participants can use their smart phones to collect and submit their wildflower data. Over the sping and summer Plantlife will run four different Hunts with over 70 different iconic British Wildflowers to look out for. This is… Read more →
Dr Trevor Dines is Plantlife’s botanical specialist. In a recent webinar presentation he talks about his personal experience of creating a wildflower meadow in North Wales. Watch this uplifting, informative and inspirational talk again here. Read more →
Exciting news today for Herefordshire Meadows. You can read more about it on the Plantlife blog and in our official press release Read more →
Waxcaps are familiar-shaped fungi that are often brightly-coloured with a waxy or slippery outside. They are found in grasslands that are generally poor in nutrients – such as old pasture, sand dunes, heathland, lawns and cemeteries. Plantlife have brought out a New Waxcap App (WaxcApp), which has been developed to help users identify them. It is important that we discover where they… Read more →
