Dorset Wildlife Trust (DWT) is looking for volunteers to take part in a ‘mass planting’ of wild flowers in Bridport, as part of a plan to recreate the colour and diversity of the county’s stunning Coronation Meadow, Lady’s Mead, in west Dorset.
Volunteers have grown hundreds of wild flower plugs from seed harvested from Lady’s Mead and these are now ready to transplant to Asker Meadows in Bridport. The planting is taking place between 10 am and 3 pm on Thursday 26th March and Saturday 4th April and everyone is welcome to join in. No experience is necessary but please bring a trowel if you can.
Nick Gray, DWT Conservation Officer leading the Dorset Coronation Meadows project said, “Kingcombe Meadows is a glorious place brimming with a huge diversity of wild flowers and the insects that feast on their pollen and nectar. Walking through Lady’s Mead in the summer, you can hear grasshoppers jumping between the tell-tale seed pods of yellow rattle and see the many butterflies attracted by the irresistible flowers of knapweed and oxeye daisy. Bridport Town Council’s Asker Meadows Nature Reserve, with its excellent access, sympathetic management and grazing livestock is the ideal receptor site to create a buzzing and thriving meadow.”
The Coronation Meadows project, supported by the Biffa Award Landfill Community Fund, began in 2012 with a call fromThe Prince of Wales for the creation of new wild flower meadows, at least one in every county, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation.
This came in response to the news that we have lost 97% of our wild flower meadows in the last 75 years. Sixty Coronation Meadows were selected, including west Dorset’s Lady’s Mead at DWT’s Kingcombe Meadows nature reserve. This project will celebrate these surviving meadows and use their valuable seed to create new species-rich sites.
For location details and further information please contact Nick Gray on 07824 438974 or email [email protected]. To find out more about Coronation Meadows visit www.coronationmeadows.org.uk
