Hay Meadow Restoration

Hay meadows are among the UK’s most biodiverse habitats, supporting a vibrant mix of wildflowers, grasses, and the many insects, birds, and mammals that depend on them. Once widespread, these traditional meadows have declined dramatically over the past century — but with the right approach, they can be restored to bring life, colour, and ecological value back to the landscape.

This webinar will guide you through the essential steps for restoring a species-rich hay meadow, from assessing your site to establishing and maintaining a thriving plant community. Whether you’re managing farmland, a community greenspace, or a private garden, this session will help you plan and carry out a successful restoration.

In this webinar, we’ll cover the following topics:

• What is a Meadow? – Understanding the characteristics, importance, and ecology of traditional hay meadows.
• Site Selection – Choosing suitable soils, locations, and conditions for successful restoration.
• Site Preparation – Managing existing vegetation and preparing the ground for sowing or planting.
• Sowing and Planting – Selecting and applying seed mixes, plug plants, and techniques for establishing diverse vegetation.
• Monitoring and Enhancement – Assessing progress, managing the meadow over time, and adding species to increase diversity.

Whether you’re a land manager, conservationist, farmer or ecologist, this session will equip you with the practical knowledge to restore and care for wildflower-rich hay meadows that benefit both biodiversity and people.

The 90-minute event will consist of a 1-hour presentation followed by a Q&A with the tutor using questions provided by the live audience.

The presentations will be recorded and shared with those who booked alongside Q&A transcripts and relevant links following the event via a password-protected website.

Hay Meadow Specialist: Carol Edmondson MSc MRSB

Coming from an ecology background, Carol has worked in the Forest of Bowland National Landscape for the last 8 years, working with farmers, landowners, and communities to create, restore or enhance traditional hay meadows and pastures under the Hay Time project. Since 2006, the project has started over 900ha of grassland across the Forest of Bowland and Yorkshire Dales on its restoration journey,

Skills For Ecology Webinars

Our Skill For Ecology webinars focus on technical skills useful in ecology and conservation roles, such as use of technology, field surveying and practical conservation skills.