National Meadows Day
1 July 2023
In 2022 Kestle Barton was invited to participate with Wildlife Groundswell in a collaborative event to mark National Meadows Day. Kestle Barton was one of three wildflower meadows on a tour that was open to Wildlife Groundswell members and the public, alongside Goongillings Farm near Constantine and at Gear Farm, near St Martin. An excerpt from the final report reads as follows:
It was delightful to visit three excellent wildflower and grass meadows on National Meadows Day. Between 30 and 40 people came to look at the meadows, and hear Cornwall County Plant Recorder Ian Bennallick identify the many species – in all we looked at 48 wildflowers, 18 grasses and 3 rushes.
Please see the full report here: WG Report from National Meadows Day held on Saturday 2nd July 2022)
Ian Bennallick kindly compiled and shared a list of the plants that he identified during his visit to Kestle Barton on that day. That 2022 list is available here: IB Plant list for meadow at Kestle Barton SW753253 2nd July 2022
In addition to Ian Bennallick’s expertise on the day, we were also subsequently visited by University of Exeter students in Conservation Ecology, who conducted a Meadows Survey of Kestle Barton on 30 June 2022.
The 2023 National Meadows Day is scheduled for Saturday 1 July at 1pm. All are welcome to join us, and Ian Bennallick, in this season’s tour of the meadow. For information about the full tour across three sites visit Wildlife Groundswell website.
To help us celebrate National Meadows Day this year, we have also invited the Cornwall Butterfly and Moth Society back to Kestle Barton for another late night survey of our moth and butterfly population.
