Two recent grants given by the South Downs Trust have had a big impact on effective meadow management in the Winchester area, offering free training to locals to learn the art of scything.
A Sustainable Communities Fund (SCF) grant to Magnificent Meadows and funding for the Hampshire Hedgerows project has been used to setup meadow management training for volunteers to help improve grassland biodiversity and to support wildflowers.
The training sessions to develop traditional scything, raking and baling skills were organised by the countryside charity CPRE Hampshire.
Scything training!
Training was organised for locals with a week of practical management sessions from Saturday 24 August to Friday 30 August.
Activities included scything, raking and baling in the meadows at Bar End, Winchester the chalk grassland around St Catherine’s Park and Ride. Tasks were undertaken under the instruction of local meadows expert Rachel Remnant from Land Lore Consulting.
To see how they got on watch the following short film from CPRE:
The Hampshire Hedge project
This event is part of the wider Hampshire Hedge project, connecting up the New Forest and the South Downs National Parks with green corridor of hedgerows and wild spaces. Over a 3-year period (started Autumn 2023) CPRE Hampshire will restore a network of 12 – 14 miles of hedgerows working with local communities, schools, landowners and farmers to manage existing hedgerows and plant new ones, connecting up copses and meadows along the way.
Magnificent Meadows
Magnificent Meadows is a project aiming to connect local residents and these special places via making hay by hand, school visits, chalk lawn garden surveys and wellbeing in nature sessions.