HELLO

A warm welcome back to our Friends of Bartonsham Meadows newsletter. Thank you so much for supporting our campaign.

Last night flood warnings were issued for the Wye which is a pollution concern as the meadows appear to have been sprayed recently. Please take care.

This month…

• We were informed by the Church Commissioners (the landowners) that the farm house, buildings, and higher paddock have been sold.
• The Church Commissioners invited us to partner with a grazier who shares our vision on an annual basis.
• We wrote a land management proposal for the Church Commissioners that sets out a vision for long term restoration of the meadows to species-rich floodplain management.
• We reached out, with Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, to potential grazing partners through the Hereford Green Network. 
• We have shared our management plan for the long term transformation of the meadows with Hereford Council, Jesse Norman MP, and the Bishop of Hereford.
• We have continued to share all of your wonderful pictures, videos and related events.
• Reached 100 followers on Instagram and in our Facebook group! Thanks for the support, if you haven’t yet, you can follow us here for Instagram and here on Facebook.

UPCOMING PLANS…

• We’ve got an exciting feature on a Virtual Tour of the Meadows this coming Tuesday (7:30pm) with Bartonsham History Group. Featuring a full bridge-to-bridge tour, discover hidden historical nuggets and an update on the meadows from us at FOBM. See the flyer below and email web@bartonshamhistory.org.uk to register. 
• We have further meetings scheduled over the next few weeks with the Church Commissioners and Hereford Council.
• We’re continuing to develop our campaign and communication strategy for 2021. Shout out any suggestions or ways in which you could help us.

We are always keen to support similar initiatives in the area. Here’s a list of events (and one TV programme) that might be of interest to you coming up in March…

• 2nd March 10am-1pm: Towards Net Zero Using Nature Based Solutions in Floodplains  – “The aim of this workshop will be to invite senior and informed speakers and participants to debate how we can optimise land use in floodplains to deliver nature based solutions to flood risk and diffuse pollution, the loss of biodiversity and human health crises.”  Contact Olivia Nelson to attend Olivia.nelson@open.ac.uk   
• 3rd March 1pm-1:30pm: Say Yes to Life: The Forgotten Problem – with Ruth Valerio “What does it mean to be human? What is our relationship with the world that we live in? What does our future look like?” Book here
• 17th March: Herefordshire Wildlife Trust City Branch Talk: Putting Herefordshire’s Wildlife into Recover: What do we need to do to create a county rich in wildlife? Nature Recovery Networks, Biodiversity Net Gain and the 30 by 30 campaign. Book here
• Available online now: Joanna Lumley’s Home Sweet Home Episode 3 includes a clip about a former dairy farm that has been re-wilded. 

AS ALWAYS, PLEASE COULD YOU…

• Record images and footage of the meadow, and share with us to keep a record and for use on social media.
• Share this newsletter with friends, family and anyone who could support us.
• Encourage friends to sign up to our mailing list and our social media feeds.
• Consider becoming a member of Herefordshire Wildlife Trust.
• Consider making a donation to our campaign here .
• Get in touch with feedback and ideas via email or social media

All the best

Friends of Bartonsham Meadows