Hopefully this spooky season there aren’t actually any Greater Horseshoe Bats in your cauldron! This particular species of bat is one of the rarest, and Cornwall’s protected landscape offers key...
Melodie Manners
The 'dating agency' for wildflower meadows in Cornwall.
The Wildflower Collective approached the Farming in Protected Landscapes team in January 2023 with an idea for a revolutionary dating agency; for wildflower meadows in our nationally protected landscape. The team at the Wildflower Collective find species rich ‘donor’ meadows and match-make them with ‘receptor’ sites.
As many farmers are choosing to incorporate options such as; GS7 -Restoration towards Species Rich Grassland (Stewardship), AHL1 – Pollen and Nectar Flower Mix (SFI) or IMP2 – Flower-Rich Grass Margins, Blocks or infield strips (SFI) into their grant agreements there becomes a greater demand for seed mixes across the UK.
As demand for seed rises, so too does cost. Cornwall has fairly unique environmental conditions with many land holdings being subjected to a maritime climate; one that is much wetter and saltier than other parts of the UK! In light of this, there are no seed mixes available on the open market to farmers that are appropriate for our soils or climate, or that contain the mixtures of the key species that are found here.
Dr Grace Twiston-Davies from Meadow Match wanted to use the project to help create more wildflower-rich sites across the Protected Landscape and so teamed up with Dave Oates from Rosuick Organic Farm, a forward thinking farmer and James Ruddick from Cornwall Council’s Nature Recovery Team.
Below are some examples of what FiPL has funded for this project:
You can find out more about Meadow Match by visiting the Wildflower Collective’s webpage
