Issue 2 Marches Meadow Group Marches Meadow Group...Haymaking this year has been more pro-tracted than in 2018, with as always the weather playing an important role. Paul’s skil-ful

Page 1 M ar c hes Mea dow G roup Issue 2

Marches Meadow Group

A s the MARCHES MEADOW GROUP emerges from its fourth season of full

operation, it is encouraging to see the wider community appreciating and celebrating the importance that wild flower meadows play in the landscape. Programmes such as Countryfile, Gardener’s World and Springwatch have devoted increasing coverage to the beauty and value from both established and newly created meadows. Turning a small area of an established lawn into a species rich meadow using local green hay or seed is very popular. Our group can play a vital role in this development as we share our experience and knowledge with both new and existing members. Member-ship this year has grown very strongly as we publicise our activities through our Events Programme, displays and through our valuable links with other organisations such as Natural England, Shrop-shire Wildlife Trust and the National Trust. Haymaking this year has been more pro-tracted than in 2018, with as always the weather playing an important role. Paul’s skil-ful handling of our small scale equipment and the growing band of scythers allowed hay to be made at some of our smaller sites. Demand for green hay , to improve species diversity at a number of sites , has been strong this year. Timing here is crucial and some trials on harvesting Yellow Rattle seed by hand collection or by more

mechanical methods have been assessed. It is hoped that this can be developed further through the 2020 season, as this will increase flexibility between donor and recipient sites. If we develop seed collection to be less la-bour intensive it creates op-portunities to market seed mixes more widely ; with income opportunities for both the group and meadow owners.

Looking forward, the talk on Orchid propagation in No-vember by Suzanne Noble will be of interest to a wide range of Societies throughout the area and could provide a recruitment opportunity. A new Events Programme for 2020 is in preparation , with amongst a number of meet-ings the return of the Hay Meadow Festival , this time at the Discovery Centre in Cra-ven Arms. A great opportuni-

ty to meet current mem-bers and see the work of other Countryside groups. Details will be publicised on the website, where ac-cess to the message board will enable some of your more challenging meadow linked queries to be an-swered. If you have friends or neighbours thinking of developing a patch of meadow do pass on our details and encourage them to join the Group.

As our Group continues to grow the workload on our Committee volunteers in-creases, as managing hay-making programmes, site surveys and green hay transfers add new levels of complexity. If you feel you can do something to help we'd be delighted to hear from you via any Commit-tee member. Finally thanks to Richard Keymer who chaired the Group through its formative years and to all the hardworking Com-mittee members who en-sure the continuing suc-cess of the Group.

Chair’s Report

Annual Newsletter Autumn 2019

Chair’s Report 1

Hay Making 2019 2

Restoring Shrop-shire’s Verges Project

3

Membership Report

Annual Talk 2018

4

Scything Update 5

Middle Marches Community Land Trust

6

Moths, Butterflies & Meadows

7

Who are we?

The Committee

8

Inside this issue:

‘Demand for green hay ,

to improve species

diversity at a number of

sites , has been strong

this year’

Verges Project Lydham

by David Poynton

Small scale scarifying


L ast year’s report end-ed by stating ‘We need to plan for much wetter years than

2018!’ and so it proved: 2019 has been a challenging year for our contractor Paul Roughley. The early summer had been good for farmers who are not constrained by wildflower flowering dates but by mid-July, when most MMG members’ hay fields are ready, the weather became unpredictable with some heavy storms and, more irri-tatingly, light rain on many days.

There was one good period when Paul, helped by MMG member Derrick Chesters who devoted his annual holi-day to hay-making, managed to make several members’ hay, but most of these had at least some rain at some time in the process. As the summer progressed shorter days and heavier overnight dews fur-ther delayed operations. At the time of writing nearly all members’ fields have been cut but on one the cut material had to be raked off, and on a larger (by MMG standards) site only half the cut hay could be baled; the bales suf-fered a long period of inter-mittent rain but were eventu-ally taken by a local farmer. The other half of the hay was raked to the field edges by Paul and his friend Andy Da-vies.

The message from this year is for members to hold their nerve – hay can be made well

into September if necessary, and although its quality as fodder may be less this should not be as great a prob-lem for members without stock. Although baled hay can survive some rain getting the bales off the field and under cover is important. An aspect of MMG’s activities that would benefit from a volun-teer co-ordinator is the sale of hay. Only a few MMG members have livestock and most of those make sufficient hay for their own needs. As far as I am aware, about 70 bales made by Paul were sold by MMG members (mainly to other members), and we need to develop the marketing of our valuable product.

As well as the many sites on which hay was well made, there have been other suc-cesses to celebrate: as MMG membership expanded we had a steady stream of re-quests for plant surveys and ten were completed this year. Some of these were late in the season and will be repeated next year and there are al-ready new sites in the diary for 2020. Although most of the surveyed fields fell into the ‘would benefit from en-hancement’ category many had a good range of grass species and, equally im-portantly, enthusiastic own-ers who are keen to improve their meadows. One of the surveyed sites had four spe-cies of orchid amongst a very good range of other species, and another meadow had Meadow Saffron – an unusu-al species for the MMG area.

Time constraints meant that we could not fully co-ordinate green hay exchanges, but a list of donor and suitable recipient sites was circulated. Unfortunately many of these potential exchanges did not happen this year, emphasis-ing the need for another vol-unteer co-ordinator who can make the necessary arrange-ments between donors and recipients and enlist the vol-unteer help that is often

needed. Some donors and recipients postponed ex-changes until next year and one exchange was complet-ed. As well as the members who had offered the green hay this last exercise re-quired the services of Simon Cooter and Siobhan Reedy as scythers and Rob Rowe and Caroline Cooter as rak-ers. The large recipient site was also able to take green hay from the bank behind the Natural England offices at Rigmoreoak.

Previously green-hay treat-ed sites continued to show new species – Greater But-terfly orchids appeared in one that received green hay from Natural England’s Pennerley meadows four years ago. This was the same site that had Cowslips for the first time last year, and these continued to spread in area and increase in number. We hope to re-survey other recipient sites in coming years so that we can build the evidence base we may need to support a future funding bid.

There were a few other tasks that Paul undertook using the MMG kit – baling hay from The Knapp made by the Friends of Castle Pul-verbatch, baling cut (and wet) grass for Montgomery Wildlife Trust (for which MMG was well paid) and pulling a van out of a ditch while on route between two MMG sites!

Hay Making & Other Services 2019 by Richard Small

‘Previously green-hay

treated sites continued

to show new species –

Greater Butterfly

orchids appeared in one

that received green hay

from Natural England’s

Pennerley meadows

four years ago’

Large wrapped bales


‘In many ways our road

verges are a reflection

of the surrounding

fields and their decline

in species which is

something we are

working to reverse’


Restoring Shropshire’s Verges Project by Rob Rowe

Some of these are already species rich and we are working to keep them as such.

Others are species poor and we are starting from scratch..... literally.... by removing grass, scarifying and then sowing yellow rattle seed.

We have a contractor who is cutting and removing grass which will be com-posted on a nearby farm.

We have had two days work with enthusiastic volunteers from the Na-tional Trust cutting and

removing grass on lanes near Wentnor and planting 500 plants of native species at Bishops Castle crossroads.

In many ways our road verg-es are a reflection of the sur-rounding fields and their decline in species which is something we are working to reverse.

It is all quite a slow process and this is really a pilot pro-ject but eventually we hope to show the council that you can have flower rich verges which require less cutting, look wonderful and provide a better corridor for wildlife

R iddle ?!

What meadows do we pass all the time but not see?

Answer: Our road verges.

While this may not be strictly true.......they are an important link.

For the past 5 years I have been involved first in map-ping and then organising work on some road verges throughout the area.

Our latest incarnation is as RSVP..........Restoring Shropshire's Verges Project which is a loose agglomera-tion of local groups, Shrop-shire Council and its con-tractors.

We have a small grant this year from the Peoples’ Post-code Lottery which runs from July 2019 to July 2020. We have picked ten sections of roadside verge to work on of varying inter-est and diversity, from a long stretch along the A489 near Bow House, the cross-roads at Bishops Castle and small lane sides.

Grass collecting in Moorhouse Lane

Verge restoration using NT volunteers


Annual Talk:2018

Monmouthshire Meadows Group by Martin Bonathan (text provided by Stephanie Tyler)

M embership

numbers have

been steadily

increasing

since the group was first

formed in 2015, when we

started out with no more than

20 members. 2019 has been

the best year yet for the num-

ber of new members who

have joined the group. Since

January we have welcomed 21

new members to the group

and it’s possible that the

number may increase before

we reach the end of the year.

Currently the group has 65

members. With the growth in

membership the geographical

spread of the group has like-

wise increased. The member-

ship area now extends from

Hanwood (just south of

Shrewsbury), to Sarn and

Abermule in Powys and down

to the Clun area, New Inven-

tion and Ludlow in the south.

There is also a cluster of

members in the Church Stret-

ton area. The largest concen-

tration of members is in the

Minsterley, Shelve, Pennerley,

White Grit and Pontesbury

areas. These areas are all

within the former Stiper-

stones and Cordon Hill Coun-

try Landscape Partnership

Scheme area. The LPS helped

establish the group and pro-

vided financial support until it

finished in March 2018. The

majority of members have

between 1 and 5 acres of land

but a few own or manage larg-

er land holdings. Within the

last year one large estate has

joined the group and two oth-

er members manage large

areas of land, with conserva-

tion and habitat improvement

being their principal objective.

As is to be expected, the size and

type of land owned and man-

aged by members has become

more diverse as membership

has increased. Some members

have joined the group in order

to learn how to increase the

diversity of plants in their gar-

den lawn and we hope in future

years to attract more members

who wish to do this. Some other

members are fortunate enough

to already have species rich

meadows with an impressive

range of plants but the majority

of us are in the relatively early

stages of “improving” the fields

or land we own. The annual

membership subscription is £15

per household. Subscriptions

are due at the AGM in May. For

those members who join be-

tween January and May sub-

scription extends to the second

AGM after joining.

Membership Report by Siobhan Reedy

O n Sunday Novem-

ber 18th we hosted

our Annual Talk at

Norbury Village

Hall. The talk was given by

Stephanie Tyler who is the

Chair of Monmouthshire

Meadows Group, a group

which has been running for 15

years and which provided us

with some valuable insights

and comparisons with our

own, much more recent histo-

ry.

Monmouthshire Meadows

Group started in January

2003 after concerns in the

Trellech area south of Mon-

mouth of the continuing loss

of unimproved grassland to

agriculture, tree-planting and

neglect. Although originally

envisaged as a group on the

Welsh side of the Wye Valley

AONB, it soon expanded to

cover the whole of Mon-

mouthshire and parts of adja-

cent counties and now has

about 250 members.

The group helps people man-

age their fields and gardens

to maintain and enhance

grassland biodiversity

through direct work or

through local contractors and

graziers. A botanist visits

each new member to carry

out a survey of plants and to

give advice on management.

The Group owns two Exmoor

Ponies which help members

with aftermath grazing where

they cannot obtain sheep or

cattle. Members are invited

to attend open days at mead-

ows and indoor meetings.

There is also an active web-

site and two newsletters are

produced each year.

It published a book in 2013 to

commemorate ten years of

existence with articles by mead-

ow-owners. As a new venture

the Group now owns or leases

three grassland reserves total-

ling 37 acres. Four members

have also produced a guide to

grassland fungi with numerous

photographs and this is pub-

lished by the Meadows Group

(available from NHBS).

Stephanie’s talk was very well

received and provided us with

much food for thought at a time

when we are looking to the fu-

ture and thinking about new

ideas and ambitions for our

own development.

‘2019 has been the

best year yet for

the number of new

members who

have joined the

group. Since

January we have

welcomed 21 new

members to the

group’


Scything update 2019

W ith no hay

meadow festi-

val this year, I

thought that it

would still be good to attract

some scythers to help out on

the Stiperstones with some

bracken cutting. “Scything

with a View” was a week of

scything which attracted folk

from as far afield as Lanca-

shire and Cambridgeshire,

spending a few days or even

the whole week scything in

the mornings and exploring

the area in the afternoons.

The weather was generally

quite good, allowing the par-

ticipants a different view

each day as we scythed

bracken at different locations

around the hill.

The week culminated in the

scything competition, which

due to a visit by Claire, a local

Wwoofer (Willing worker on

organic farms) from France,

we can now call the Interna-

tional Shropshire Scything

Championship, held this year

at the National Nature Re-

serve work base.

The results of the champion-

ship (5x5metre squares) are

shown here.

Many thanks to all who com-

peted in the heats and the

finals, and we hope that the

Hay Meadow Festival will

attract a wider range of com-

petitors next year.

All the areas of bracken that

were scythed during the week

were followed up with a sec-

ond cut later in the summer

Page 5

by Simon Cooter, Natural England

([email protected])

with local volunteers.

Other scything activities

this year included a

morning of peening in

April. Scything courses

were run at the Discov-

ery Centre, the Stiper-

stones NNR and at Card-

ing Mill Valley, with full

attendance at all courses.

Finally the MMG were

involved with some

green hay scything of a

late meadow in

Churchstoke, which was

then transported and

spread onto a habitat

restoration area near

Hyssington.

We now have a number

of scything members of

the group, so if anyone

would like an area of

their land cut in this

fashion (not too big) they

should contact me early

in the season and I will

see what can be ar-

ranged.

I also have a contact list

for future scything

courses.

Name Position Time

(mins/

secs)

Quali-

ty

(/10)

Peter

Blackwell

1st

(M)

2.18 9

Phil

Holden

2nd

(M)

3.57 8

Alex Lo-

gan

3rd

(M)

4.13 6

Colin

Close

5.44 8

Andy

Hyde

6.22 8

Martin

Stevens

7.35 9

Harriet

Carty

1st (F) 5.12 3

Siobhan

Reedy

2nd

(F)

15.14 4

Cath

Landles

3rd

(F)

‘“Scything with a View”

was a week of scything

which attracted folk

from as far afield as

Lancashire and

Cambridgeshire’

Clearing bracken on Stiper-

stones

mailto:[email protected]


E arly in the year A small group of us got together with the idea of setting

up a Land Trust. This eventually happened with a launch meeting in April and a few months later we were set up with a consti-tution and a bank account. We have a number of aims which are still fluid. At the moment we have set up talks and workshops.

Middle Marches Community Land Trust by Rob Rowe

In the period since our launch in April, the group has been busy laying the foundations for Middle Marches CLT to be an ac-tive player, not only by supporting landowners to be responsible stewards of their land for future gener-ations, but also taking on the management of farms and smallholdings to en-hance their biodiversity and production of local food.

OUR AIMS ARE TO: WORK WITH ORGANISATIONS We work with existing organisations and individuals to improve the connections in the land-scape through sympathetic management and habitat recreation. ACT AS AN ADVICE HUB We share information, advice, skills, expertise and education for those managing, or seeking to buy and sell, land. WORK WITH LANDOWNERS Helping landowners to manage wildlife sites sustainably. BUY & MANAGE LAND Buying and managing land of high wildlife value for conservation purposes. SUPPORT LOCAL FOOD PRODUCTION Supporting the production of quality food by looking after land and livestock.

Please visit the website and register your interest https://middlemarchescommunitylandtrust.org.uk/

We have started to:

• Draw up a register of skills and useful contacts that our 100+ supporters pos-sess. Let us know what skills you have!

• Negotiate with a local Trust over the shared use of premises that will provide an office, a meeting place and storage space

• Investigate the purchase of a wildlife rich smallholding

• Participate in a network of local landowners aiming to improve water quality in the Rea Brook

• Line up expert speakers on topics such as enhancing soil quality and bee habi-tats

• Register our interest in the new £100m Climate Action Fund, to be launched by the National Lottery this autumn

Page 7 M ar c hes Mea dow G roup Issue 2 Page 7

Moths, Butterflies and Meadows

Page 7

M ention moths

to most people

and the imme-

diate response

is “they are small, brown

and eat my clothes!” Whilst

a few larvae of the many

thousand species of UK

moths might like to feast on

your woollen jumper or

feather pillow, the moths

and butterflies found in your

meadow prefer a sip of nec-

tar from your flowering

plants. As the flora – grasses

and herbs – of your meadow

develops the variety of

moths continues to increase

and change throughout the

season. On a warm and sun-

ny July day the sound , col-

our and sheer numbers of

flying insects create a magi-

cal scene across your mead-

ow patch, in contrast to the

relatively insect free pas-

tures. Many day flying

moths and butterflies are

feeding on the nectar and

pollen produced by the

plants , but many are search-

ing out specific species of

plant on which they will lay

their eggs. These plants;

their leaves, flower head,

roots or developing seeds

provide a rich food source

for developing larvae and

home over the winter

months for moths at differ-

ent stages of their develop-

ment. With spring growth

the cycle starts all over

again. The greater the varie-

ty of plants and grasses the

more diverse the moth and

butterfly populations , as

most moth species have very

specific plant associations.

The near black day flying

moth the “Chimney Sweep-

er” needs Pignut for its lar-

vae to thrive, whilst the

“Forester moth” frequents

the plants of Sorrel where its

shiny green wings can be

seen glinting in strong sun-

light. The distinctive dark

green and red Burnet moths

prefer Birds-foot Trefoil,

although care in their identi-

fication is needed as there

are a number of very similar

species. Simply counting

their spots might cause con-

fusion. The ripening seed

heads of Yellow Rattle pro-

vide a food source for the

larva of the Grass Rivulet

moth, which eventually pu-

pates and overwinters in this

form. When the female moth

emerges next year large

numbers can be seen laying

eggs on the leaves of the

plant, before the small lar-

vae hatch and journey to the

green seed heads of the

plant. There is a large group

of very small micro moths

(wingspan less than 10mm)

that are tightly associated

with the grasses and herbs of

meadows. The majority of

these only have Latin scien-

tific names which hardly

flow off the tongue. On

Knapweed the larva of

Metzneria metzneriella feed

on seeds from October to

April, with the moth flying

the next year from June to

August. Micro moth associa-

tions with Eye bright, Ox-eye

daisy , Scabious and Red Cam-

pion are well documented, but

again names are complex. As

summer develops swarms of

Silver Y moths, Painted Lady

and Red Admiral butterflies are

seen in your meadows as they

voraciously source nectar after

many have flown from the con-

tinent helped by favourable

winds.

To really appreciate the biodi-

versity in your own meadow, a

strategically placed chair and a

cup of coffee , or something

stronger can be a good way to

relax for an hour or two! Your

phone camera can capture im-

ages that that can be identified

from numerous guides or web-

sites, allowing you to build

your own species list. The di-

versity will amaze you. As a

hungry migrating or newly

emerged moth where are you

going to stop-off for an energy

boost – a rich diverse meadow

or that boring sheep grazed

patch a few fields away?

Good luck with your insect

spotting and identification next

year.

By David Poynton

Rothamsted insect survey trap

Wood tiger moth

‘On a warm and

sunny July day the

sound , colour and

sheer numbers of

flying insects create

a magical scene

across your

meadow patch’


The Committee

David Poynton Chair

Richard Small Secretary

Paul Simon Treasurer

Siobhan Reedy Membership

Martin Bonathan Publicity

Rob Rowe Events

Richard Keymer

Roger Lambertsen

Simon Cooter (NE)

John Brayford

Who are we?

We’re on the Web!

Marchesmeadowgroup.com

Please have a look at it to learn more about the group, access our contact and membership forms or even con-tribute to the discussion forum.

Page 8 Page 8

We are always looking for new members, so if you, or your friends or neighbours have a meadow that needs managing or you are just interested in the project please get in touch with us. You can do this via our website or by contacting either David Poynton, the chair of our committee or our secretary, Richard Small.

Their email addresses are:

David Poynton [email protected]

Richard Small [email protected]

What to look out for in the coming year:

• AGM plus Talk and Social + Slide show – Early May.

• Meadows and Gin. Development of the Popular ‘Botanical Gin’.

• Visit to Commercial Meadow Seed Producer – Forestart?

• Meadow Plants and Grasses Identification - Teach-In.

• Visit to Member’s Meadow to view Orchids in bloom – June.

• Hay Meadow Festival – Discovery Centre, Craven Arms 11th July.

• Social Event in a Member’s Meadow – Picnic, Wine and Chat-ter.

• Meadow Seed Collection Day –Collection methods, Sieving, Storage – Practical Session. End July.

• Introduction to Meadow Creation on your Lawn or Field.

• Scything Techniques, Equipment Selection and Maintenance.

In addition to the Marches

Meadows Group Pro-

gramme the opportunity

exists to attend the

“Community Wildlife

Groups’ Plant Group”

events organised in the

Camlad, Rea Valley and

Upper Onny areas and

events organised by the

Middle Marches Communi-

ty Land Trust

Documents

Issue 2 Marches Meadow Group Marches Meadow Group...Haymaking this year has been more pro-tracted than in 2018, with as always the weather playing an important role. Paul’s skil-ful