1: How would you describe your meadow, e.g. stand alone, part of a smallholding, part of a farm, managed lawn?

There are 4 (or 5 – depending how you demarcate) fields which form part of a 19 acre holding.  The fields make up about 13 acres with the rest being woods…

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?

We are managing the fields for wildflowers and biodiversity – whilst also taking care of ponies who need to graze.

3: Roughly how big are the meadows?

1.5, 2.6, 3.6, 5 acres

4: Roughly how high above sea level?

About 150m but running down from there into a valley

5: How long have you been managing the meadow for wild flowers?

 This is our fourth year

6: Do you know when the meadow was last ploughed/reseeded?

No idea – but exceeding 50 years.  Some fields, perhaps never – as the tithe map suggests that only one was used for “arable” with the rest “pasture”.

7: Do you know when the meadow last received fertiliser or farm yard manure?

No idea but again suspect more than 50 years– other than cows, horses, sheep grazing.

8: What do the field boundaries consist of, e.g. laid/regularly flailed hedges, banks with no hedges, fence only, mature hedges, mature trees?

Old hedges (some older than others) – overgrown but laid at some point in the past.  Now more of a row of trees that will need a bit of tlc by laying and coppicing etc.

…(Wild Angelica)…

9: Is the meadow ever grazed by stock, and if so by what, and roughly when?

The ponies who graze most of it in winter and then we are trying to create a home range set up in summer to prevent over grazing of any section and keep the ponies on the move.

…(Early Purple Orchids)…

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?

It has an annual cut since we moved in – weather permitting.  It’s cut and bailed as hay and haylage.

11: Has the meadow ever received any herbicide treatment, and if so, what, and when?

Not to our knowledge.

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 down to a valley bottom and facing predominately east.

14: Do you know roughly what the soil ph is?

No, but it’s on the acid side.

15: Have you ever had a botanical survey carried on the meadow, and if not would you be interested in having this done?

Lizzie Wilberforce came out to visit and added to the list that we keeping.

…(whorled caraway)…

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?

No – think we are fine.

…(Wild Angelica)…

Added to the gallery 08/2016.

If you own or manage a meadow in Carmarthenshire which you would like to add to these gallery pages, please email Rachel Barber, the current website administrator, at

website@carmarthenshiremeadows.com

 

Thanks for reading.