Category Archives: meadows

National Meadows Day 2021

today’s National Meadows Day blog is over on the People Need Nature website – here. Please head over there and take a look. Thanks

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Meadows Sounds for #NationalMeadowsDay

People Need Nature is releasing its “Meadow Sounds” soundscape today on National Meadows Day. Charity People Need Nature celebrates National Meadow Day (1st July 2017) by releasing a specially created soundscape evoking the lost Wildflower Meadows of England. 97% of … Continue reading

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National Meadow Day

It’s National Meadow Day. I hadn’t noticed until today when I saw this piece on the BBC Earth website. The piece kindly references a report I wrote for Plantlife and the Wildlife Trusts about meadows back in 2002, called “Green … Continue reading

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Make with the Rake

After seven hours raking on monday, my back is just about ok now. I had asked the Council to come and do a partial early cut of Maumbury Rings. And they did. As they haven’t managed to commit themselves (yet) … Continue reading

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De Mauley’s maturity shows up former boss Paterson

          Prince Charles speaks at the Reversing The Trend Conference on meadows (c) Miles King Earlier in the Summer I helped organise a conference on the plight of wildlife-rich grasslands, especially wildflower meadows. Plantlife, Rare Breeds … Continue reading

Posted in bees, Defra, Friends of the Earth, Lord de Mauley, meadows, Neoconoids, Owen Paterson, Prince Charles, Richard Benyon | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Panic Ploughing

The BBC revealed yesterday that grasslands had been ploughed up, thanks to the European Commission’s Common Agricultural Policy proposals on “greening” – oh, the irony  – to protect grasslands from being ploughed up.The EC had made the fatal mistake of … Continue reading

Posted in Common Agricultural Policy, deregulation, George Eustice, grasslands, meadows, NFU, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Biodiversity Offsetting: Planning Appeal agrees housing on Essex flower meadows will create “environmental gain.”.

Tomorrow sees an event to bring together organisations and individuals who are very worried and angry about Biodiversity Offsetting. The Forum on Natural Commons event “Nature is not for sale” is taking place tomorrow evening in Regents Park, London. This … Continue reading

Posted in biodiversity offsetting, housing, meadows, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 24 Comments

Keeping a Level Head

A Somerset Levels Wet Meadow (c) Miles King I feel almost reluctant to put pen to paper (metaphorically) on the issue of the floods and the Somerset Levels, because so much has been written or spoken in recent days fromn … Continue reading

Posted in agriculture, anti conservation rhetoric, anti-environmental rhetoric, Common Agricultural Policy, Environment Agency, European environment policy, Floodplains, grasslands, meadows, Owen Paterson | Tagged , , , , , , | 15 Comments

vanishing meadows – less than 5000ha left in England     Natural England come in for a great deal of stick from other conservationists – Walshaw Moor is a good recent example. But I’d like to praise them for some … Continue reading

Posted on by Miles King | 6 Comments

Another skirmish on the Lodge Hill Battle Front

It was an exciting day yesterday.  I was part of a small 5 person RSPB team giving evidence in support of the Lodge Hill SSSI notification at an Extraordinary Natural England Board meeting. The opposition were  there in numbers – … Continue reading

Posted in biodiversity offsetting, housing, meadows, Natural England, public land, scrub | Tagged , , , , , , , | 15 Comments