Prince unveils ‘coronation meadows’
Prince Charles has unveiled 60 “coronation meadows” as part of efforts to conserve flower-rich grasslands across the UK.
The scheme, to mark the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s coronation, aims to identify a meadow in every county, and use those sites to restore or recreate other meadows in their area.
The UK has lost 97% of its wild flower meadows since the 1930s, hitting plant species and the wildlife that relies on them, and the project also aims to map the pockets of flower-rich meadows that still remain across the country.
The first 60 flagship meadows being announced by the Prince, who came up with the idea in response to a report by charity Plantlife into wildflower losses in the past 60 years, reflect their local landscape and support threatened native plants.
They include Martin’s Meadow in Suffolk, home to green-winged orchids, a species that has seen declines of 50%, and meadow saffron, while Cae Blaen-dyffryn in Carmarthenshire has whorled caraway and thousands of lesser butterfly-orchids.
Four-fifths of the 60 meadows identified so far can trace an undisturbed history back to before the coronation, and in some cases for hundreds of years.
Many are grazed with native breeds, which helps wild flowers survive and they range in size from the 400 acre Therfield Heath in Hertfordshire, home to the largest population of pasque flower in Britain, to the tiny Hayton meadow in Shropshire which is just three-quarters of an acre.
Under the plans, the coronation meadow in each county will be a “donor” site, with hay and seed collected and used to restore or create new meadows in the same area.
This process will conserve the local characteristics of grasslands in each area, rather than relying on generic seed mixes which cannot reproduce that diversity.
Charles said: “My coronation meadows idea came to me when I read Plantlife’s 2012 report and fully appreciated just how many wildflower meadows had been lost over the past 60 years.
“This year we are celebrating my mother’s coronation so surely there is no better moment to end this destruction and to stimulate a new mood to protect our remaining meadows and to use them as springboards for the restoration of other sites and the creation of new meadows right across the UK.”
The report from Plantlife that inspired the project revealed that Britain has lost 10 wildflower species from the countryside since the Queen came to the throne 60 years ago.
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