Following on from the previous post, I’m including below the list of questions which meadow owners or managers might like to consider answering, if they’d like their meadow to feature in the gallery section of the Carmarthenshire Meadows Group site. (After Bruce’s encouragement at the autumn meeting to look out for fungi in our meadows, here are some colourful Halloween mushrooms from our meadows)…
You might not be able to, or want to answer all the questions below, but having as much information about each meadow will help to build up a better picture of the range of meadows which currently exist in the county, how they are being managed and, perhaps, overtime how they are changing.
So this is an opportunity to get involved and contribute something really useful to the Group.
If you can send your replies, preferably in roughly the same order in an email to me, I shall endeavour to set up a gallery page for your meadow. Maybe copy and paste the questionnaire, and then fill in responses into an email to me. Please be patient! I have no idea how many people may respond, and it will take a little time to set up each one.
If you are able to attach a few pictures of your meadow as well, so much the better. However as I have mentioned before, we have limited satellite broadband data allowances, so if you are able to reduce the size of the image to just 200-300 KB, that would be very helpful. I have to reduce all images to this size anyway before putting them on the website.
If you don’t have any pictures, don’t worry, but maybe now would be a good time to start taking a few through the seasons? Anything relating to your meadow would be great – either whole views, or maybe plants, animals, birds, mushrooms or human activities in it! I can always add photos to your meadow page later on.
As I’ve hinted before, just as restoring, or creating a meadow can take years, I’m sure that a gallery will take years to build into a useful resource. I’ve also found it really inspiring to see how wonderful other meadows in the county already look, even if our own don’t have such diversity yet. Finally for those wondering what it might look like, have a look at the first meadow to feature in this way, at Blaen Tir – on the Gallery Page….
Carmarthenshire Meadows Group (CMG) Questionnaire.
Please email your replies to website@carmarthenshiremeadows.com
If you don’t receive an email acknowledgement within a week or so, then please ring Julian Wormald on 01558 685119
1: How would you describe your meadow, e.g. stand alone, part of a smallholding, part of a farm, managed lawn?
2: How would you best describe your management of the meadow, and what are your priorities for the meadow e.g. commercial farm, hobby farmer/smallholder, purely managing the meadow on its own for its wildflowers/biodiversity?
3: Roughly how big is/are the meadow(s)?
4: Roughly how high above sea level?
5: How long have you been managing the meadow for wild flowers?
6: Do you know when the meadow was last ploughed/reseeded?
7: Do you know when the meadow last received fertiliser or farm yard manure?
8: What do the field boundaries consist of, e.g. laid/regularly flailed hedges, banks with no hedges, fence only, mature hedges, mature trees?
9: Is the meadow ever grazed by stock, and if so by what, and roughly when?
10: Is the meadow regularly cut, or burned and if so, when? And is the material removed and used as hay or bedding, or left on the field?
11: Has the meadow ever received any herbicide treatment, and if so, what, and when?
12: Have you ever imported or scattered any flower seed or hay from other sources in the meadow?
13: Is the meadow flat, or sloping, and is it hillside/valley bottom?
14: Do you know roughly what the soil ph is?
15: Have you ever had a botanical survey carried on the meadow, and if not would you be interested in having this done?
16: Would you be happy for your meadow, and the above data to feature in the Gallery section of the CMG website?
17: Would you be interested in help from a contractor in managing any aspect of meadow maintenance, and if so what help would be useful to you?
18: Meadow/Holding/Owner name and location
VERY MANY THANKS TO ANYONE CONTRIBUTING.
New meadow information welcome at any time.
Finally if anyone thinks there are additional questions which would be helpful to an understanding of our meadows, then do please let me know.
Carmarthenshire Meadows Group - Grŵp Dolydd Sir Gaerfyrddin 
That’s a great selection of grassland fungi.
My eye is most drawn to the pink and red waxcaps you’ve got there. They are indicators of a really good waxcap population – both the ballerina (the pink ones) and the crimson/splendid waxcaps (possibly the red ones) are reputed to takes decades to colonise a meadow after ploughing/reseeding/fertiliser application. So it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to work out that your meadow has obviously been chemical fertiliser free/unploughed for decades. If possible, have a go at identifying the brightest most colourful varieties.
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Thanks for that Bruce.
We’ve only established in the last week or so that none of our 5 fields have been ploughed in decades, and none have any fertiliser in our 20 year tenure, so that although we’ve only started to ‘restore’ them in the last 2 or 3 years, we’re fortunate to have such a good base to start from.
But in those 3 years we’ve gone from just pink waxcaps in 1 field to all these – and earlier species, popping up in all 5 fields – as you said a huge boost now most of the flowers are over,
best wishes
Julian
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1: How would you describe your meadow, e.g. stand alone, part of a smallholding, part of a farm, managed lawn? *Four fields, the grass element of our smallholding* 2: How would you best describe your management of the meadow, and what are your priorities for the meadow e.g. commercial farm, hobby farmer/smallholder, purely managing the meadow on its own for its wildflowers/biodiversity? *Currently grass cut & removed once a year* *Priority to develop wild flowers / biodiversity. Any small holder off springs would be a bonus* 3: Roughly how big is/are the meadow(s)? *4No. x approx. 2.5 acres = 10 acres* 4: Roughly how high above sea level? *55 metres* 5: How long have *you* been managing the meadow for wild flowers? *Say 5 years* 6: Do you know when the meadow was last ploughed/reseeded? *Certainly not in the last 25 years* 7: Do you know when the meadow last received fertiliser or farm yard manure? *Approx. 8 years ago* 8: What do the field boundaries consist of, e.g. laid/regularly flailed hedges, banks with no hedges, fence only, mature hedges, mature trees? *Mostly mature hedge with individual mature trees* 9: Is the meadow ever grazed by stock, and if so by what, and roughly when? *Not for 8 years.* 10: Is the meadow regularly cut, or burned and if so, when? And is the material removed and used as hay or bedding, or left on the field? *Cut annually in August. Silage or hay removed*
11: Has the meadow ever received any herbicide treatment, and if so, what, and when?
*No*
12: Have you ever imported or scattered any flower seed or hay from other sources in the meadow?
*No*
13: Is the meadow flat, or sloping, and is it hillside/valley bottom?
*Sloping, valley bottom*
14: Do you know roughly what the soil ph is?
*Approx.* *7.5 ph*
15: Have you ever had a botanical survey carried on the meadow, and if not would you be interested in having this done?
*Yes, by Anna Hobbs this summer*
16: Would you be happy for your meadow, and the above data to feature in the Gallery section of the CMG website?
*Yes*
17: Would you be interested in help from a contractor in managing any aspect of meadow maintenance, and if so what help would be useful to you?
*We are currently looking for a fencing contractor so we can winter graze the fields.* 18: Meadow/Holding/Owner name and location *Suzie Fraser, Parciau, Cwrt Henri, Dryslwyn. CRN: A0022390*
On 2 November 2015 at 07:35, “Carmarthenshire Meadows Group – Grŵp Dolydd
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