Hermitage Field is now in its fourth year since we began to restore it as a wildflower hay meadow. In this post, Head of Trustees Erica Sarney describes some of the key changes we’ve seen over the last year. “The meadow has performed very well this year and exceeded expectations for such a young meadow. …
After Hermitage Field had been mown for hay, local farmer Mike Barker put sheep on the meadow to ‘mob graze’. ‘Aftermath grazing’ – bringing in cattle or sheep to graze a hay meadow after it has been mown – is an important part of the management of a traditional wildflower meadow. The sheep quickly graze …
End-of-season meadow management involves bringing in large contracting equipment to cut, row up and remove the hay on this 5.5 acre meadow. The team at EJ Ward did a very professional job mowing the meadow and harvesting the hay in mid-September this year. The meadow is cut and the hay allowed to dry out to …
Several Common Spotted-orchids (Dactylorhiza fucshii) appeared in Hermitage Field Community Meadow for the first time this year. The appearance of this intriguing and beautiful flower marks something of a milestone in the development of the meadow. Although Common Spotted-orchids are not rare plants, we were quite surprised to see them start to colonise so early …
A big thank you to everyone who attended our annual BioBlitz on 7 July. There was a great turnout, and we benefitted from the expertise of many experienced naturalists, who recorded some interesting species, despite unseasonably cool weather. In particular we’d like to thank Carol Edmundson from the Forest of Bowland National Landscape, Ben Hargreaves …
We recently welcomed the volunteer-run North Lancashire Wildlife group (NLWG) for an introduction to Hermitage Field Community Meadow, the ‘knapweed triangle’ and the floodplain meadow at the Crook O’ Lune. NLWG are based in the Lancaster district and serve North Lancashire, North Yorkshire and South Cumbria. NLWG organises winter talks, summer field outings, identification workshops …
On Sunday 7 July, between 1.00 and 4.00pm we’ll be holding our annual BioBlitz. Put it in your diary now! Whether you’re just getting started with wildlife watching, or have many years’ experience, we’d love to see you there. You can help us discover what lives in the meadow, and learn from other experts. Ben …
Join us on Thursday 25 April between 2.00 and 4.00pm to help us with an earthworm survey. Earthworms are ecosystem engineers, crucial for the life of the soil. This will be the second survey we’ve undertaken on Hermitage Field and it will be fascinating to see if we find the same or different species of …
Come and help us plant wildflowers between 3.00 and 5.00pm on Friday 19 April. Bring a pair of gardening gloves and wear stout shoes, as the ground can be quite rough and wet. We will provide trowels for doing the planting. Meet on Hermitage Field at 3.00pm.
Hedge laying activities create large amounts of brash – for Hermitage Field Community Meadow the recent hedge laying resulted in 130 metres of it! We would like to thank the three-man team from Lancaster City Council who cleared up the huge amount of brash left over from the hedge laying. They worked in terrible weather …
