Putting Somerset's Meadows Back on the Map

Saturday 1st July 2017 is National Meadows Day Wildflower meadows are vanishing; 97% have been lost since the 1930s A single healthy meadow can be home to over 80 species of wild flowers

National Meadows Day is dedicated to celebrating and protecting our vanishing wildflower meadows and the wealth of wildlife they support. This year's National Meadows Day will be the biggest yet, with over 100 events taking place across England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

Curry Rivel has it's very own National Meadows Event

From barefoot walks and scything workshops, to picnics and bug hunts, people will have the opportunity to experience first-hand the petalled-paradise that is a meadow in summer.

Join Somerset Wildlife Trust to celebrate the county's meadows and explore their beauty through a guided walk atChancellor's Farm in the Mendip Hills, led by the Magnificent Meadows team. The team will be on hand to talk about the wildflowers that can be found across the farm, and the bumblebees and butterflies that pollinate them. Chancellor's Farm is not open to the public normally, so take the opportunity to visit while you can on July 1st.

Or you could explore the Bishopwood Meadow Nature Reserve, together with the Blackdown Hills Natural Futures Team and be taken on a discovery of the wildlife that thrives amongst the meadows, and get help in identifying all the species that you find.

Just 100 years ago there would have been a meadow in every Somerset parish, supporting a way of life that had gone on for centuries. They provided grazing and hay for livestock, employment, and food and medicine for the parish and were part of a community's cultural and social history. Today, just 3% of the meadows that existed in the 1930's remain (5) -- that's a loss of 7.5 million acres of wild flower grassland.