This year we have been busy working to try and improve biodiversity on our 120 acres. We have a mixed bag of land, most of which is broad-leaved woodland.
What we really lacked was some quality grassland so we thought we’d establish a wildflower meadow. There has been a lot of work done on the nearby Castlemartin Range to help the 19 species of bumblebee present, in particular the Shrill Carder Bumblebee. As we’re only a couple of kilometres away we wondered if we could help.
After contacting the Bumblebee Conservation Trust (BCT) we were successful in getting funding for a wildflower meadow. The wildflower seed came form a Pembrokeshire supplier, Wyndrush Wild. The seed supplier was excellent and made sure we had extra Yellow Rattle to keep the grasses down.
Now we’re just waiting to see what starts growing. By next year we hope to have a reasonable meadow and lots of bumblebees & other invertebrates. One of the extra beneficiaries will be our resident bat population.
FSC Orielton's Blog 