The Big Meadow Search (BMS) is a citizen science project which aims to encourage people to record plants in an area of grassland of their own choice.  The idea is to get them outside, to look at what they’re walking through, and to learn to identify the plants they find, thus raising awareness and interest in grasslands and their importance.  It began in 2021 as an initiative by the Carmarthenshire Meadows Group in West Wales, and was at first only intended to be carried out within our county; but it generated interest beyond Carmarthenshire and beyond Wales too, so we soon expanded it to cover the whole of the UK.

The BMS species tick list is based on the National Plant Monitoring Scheme grassland indicator species, plus additional species of interest from meadows and grasslands – but all plants found should be recorded, whether on the BMS species list or not.  Any type of species-rich grassland can be searched; meadows, churchyards, road verges on quiet lanes (avoid major roads with fast-moving traffic), amenity grassland.  Obviously, if it’s not public access land, make sure to get permission!

To take part:

• Select your grassland
• Record the location name, grid reference and date
• Walk around and write down all the plants you can see
• If you aren’t sure on a species, take photographs from multiple angles of the flower heads, basal and stem leaves, upper and lower leaf surface, leaf base shape and either post on our social media or email to us and we will try and help to identify the species
• Enter your results on our website and once we have finished our BMS analysis, we will send them on to your local environmental record centre (LERC)

You can find more information on our Facebook page Big Meadow Search, or on our Twitter account @bigmeadowsearch, or on our Bluesky account @bigmeadowsearch.bsky.social.  Or you can get in touch via email on bigmeadowsearch@gmail.com. 

We have produced two books based on the social media posts containing ID tips using vegetative features of featured plants, and information on some of their associated invertebrates, galls, and fungi.  The first book concentrated on grassland indicator species, and the second covers a wider selection of plants.  They are both available by mail order and each costs £10 plus £2.70 p&p.  If you would like a copy of one or both books, contact us on bigmeadowsearch@gmail.com.

The website (www.bigmeadowsearch.co.uk) has lots more information, and you can enter your findings directly on the website.  This year’s BMS will run from June 1^st until August 31^st.