Tue 15 Sep: Charlbury Wildlife Society
7.30-9.00 pm
Friends Meeting House, Charlbury
Anna Field, Glorious Cotswolds Grasslands Programme Manager
In the 1930s, 40% of the Cotswolds National Landscape was covered in wildflower-rich grassland. This habitat was abundant with beautiful wildflowers, and supported a vast diversity of wildlife, including rare wildflowers, such as the vibrant Pasqueflower, and a huge variety of invertebrates and all the birds and mammals that depend on them. Wildflower grasslands are particularly important for pollinators such as bees and butterflies, including many rare species such as the Chalkhill Blue and Duke of Burgundy. Sadly, agricultural intensification and changing land management practices have led to the loss of almost all this wildflower grassland…less than 1.5% remains.
Anna will talk about this hugely successful project, Glorious Cotswolds Grasslands, to create the largest network of wildflower-rich Jurassic limestone grassland in the country.