Snapshot of Trust’s conservation work on show at the National Eisteddfod

It’s been typical British festival weather – sunshine and showers in equal measure – for the National Eisteddfod on Anglesey this week.

We’ve been there with a National Trust Wales stand, showcasing the range of conservation work that we do across properties, coast and countryside in North West Wales. Staff and volunteers have powered through rain and mud, and basked in spells of glorious sunshine too, meeting visitors, making friends and sharing our work. Here’s a snapshot of what we’ve been up to:

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Our Bodnant Garden team opened the week-long event with a meadows theme – a slice of Old Park turf with wildlife spotting activities for children, alongside a bee keeping display from Bug Life.

We handed over on Tuesday to Tŷ Mawr Wybrnant who exhibited an original copy of the Welsh bible, with calligraphy activity and bible history sessions; on Wednesday it was the turn of Penrhyn Castle who showcased their Artist in Residency exhibition; on Thursday there was a talk from this year’s Eisteddfod chair maker and traditional skill demonstrations by Felin Uchaf; on Friday and Saturday the red squirrels of Plas Newydd, Môn & Menai are the focus of attention.

There are also activities going on outside the tent area throughout the week; a yurt providing a Cemlyn bird hide experience (through the power of video), a traditional fishing boat from Aberdaron on display, a seal sculpture – a big hit with children – and demonstrations of Snowdonian footpath making.

The event couldn’t have happened without support of our staff and volunteers, to whom we say a massive Diolch yn Fawr! The Eisteddfod continues until Saturday (August 12) so if you have chance, go along and sample a great day of Welsh culture.

For more details about Bodnant Garden call 01492 650460, check out our website nationaltrust.org.uk/bodnant-garden or find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

 

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Having a field day at Bodnant Garden

July is meadows month when, up and down the land, we celebrate this precious native habitat.

Here at Bodnant Garden we’re inviting visitors to enjoy our own meadows at their swaying, summer peak, swishing with the sound of Yellow Rattle seed-heads and buzzing with insects. We recently welcomed local school children – our events and engagement officer Charlie led the pupils of Ysgol Eglwysbach on a perfect, sunny nature trail around Furnace Meadow, newly opened to the public this year.

Our gardeners have been out exploring too, recently joining colleagues on a meadow study day looking at the conservation work done by National Trust Wales at Moss Farm near Ysbyty Ifan – and coming back buzzing with inspiration for our own grassy acres.

The traditional native meadow is an endangered species in Britain today so this restored plot at Moss Farm (seen below, on a somewhat damper day) is a precious example of what we’ve lost in the landscape… and what can yet be put back.

The meadow has been restored in partnership with conservation group Plantlife, which has spearheaded the Coronation Meadows project. This initiative aims to create a ‘model’ meadow in every county in the UK, harvesting seed from these wildflower-rich donor meadows which is distributed to other local meadows-in-the-making.

Moss Farm is one such Coronation Meadow and wildflower seed from here has been donated to other local sites in Gwynedd and the Conwy Valley – including a field belonging to Plantlife’s own botanist Trevor Dines, near Bodnant Garden.

Bodnant gardeners Hollie, Christina, Harvey with Trevor Dines of Plantlife on their field trip to Trevor’s meadow, spotting Eye Bright, Bird’s Foot Trefoil and Betany – indicators of a propsering meadow.

   

Our garden team visited Trevor’s Farm after viewing the donor site at Moss Farm. It was a great day learning about the diversity of meadow habitats, discovering wild flowers…and impressively-horned cattle!

 

It’s inspiration for our own conservation work at Bodnant Garden, where we manage three wildflower meadows – the Old Park (opened to the public in 2012), Furnace Meadow (newly opened in 2017) and Cae Poeth Meadow (opening 2019.)  Since 2012 we’ve been working to a grassland management plan to enrich the wildlife found there with traditional, low level maintenance – a regime of mowing and removing hay in August, grazing with sheep in autumn, avoiding fertilisers and herbicides, along with sowing seed of Yellow Rattle to keep down grasses and encourage the growth of flowers. Already we’ve seen an increase in wildflowers flowers in The Old Park (seen below), including orchids.

Why do it? Today in the UK there remains only 3% of the meadows which existed in the 1930s – that’s a staggering loss of 7.5 million acres of wild flower grassland.  In conservation terms the knock on effect is a massive decline in butterflies and bees, which has big implications for the pollination of our crops and gardens. There is an effect on water quality too; low use of chemicals and low intensity grassland management reduces the level of pollutants entering water sources and nutrients being washed out of the soil. In the larger scheme of things, there’s evidence the decline in grasslands may be affecting climate change too, as they store and use carbon at a higher rate than forests.

That’s why, alongside Plantlife, National Trust Wales is a leading partner in the campaign Save Our Magnificent Meadows, a Lottery funded effort to restore wildflower meadows and other grasslands.

We’re also working with Plantlife at Parc Farm, the National Trust site on the Great Orme. This limestone headland provides a very different grassland habitat to the damp meadow at Moss Farm but here, careful management can again make a world of difference to wildlife. Grazing with sheep is helping to keep grasses down and allow quite unique wildflowers to thrive (seen below, images courtesy of Plantlife.)

Join us celebrating our precious grassland heritage at Bodnant Garden, Great Orme and other National Trust Wales sites this month. You can find out more here :

• www.magnificentmeadows.org.uk/about 
• www.plantlife.org.uk/wales
• www.nationaltrust.org.uk/llanerchaeron/features/save-our-magnificent-meadows