This free verse poem is composed from the words of many floodplain farmers who took part in interviews and questionnaires as part of my Hay Days PhD research project into the management of floodplain meadows for sustainable farming. Arranged and read by me, Vicky Bowskill, and presented along with a montage of images from projectContinue reading “Voices from the Floodplain: a poem”
Category Archives: Video
Webinar: Science Communication for Ecologists and Environmental Managers
This webinar was created in collaboration with my former colleagues at the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Managers. It formed part of my CENTA work placement and was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. You can find a recording of the webinar below and a pdf of the slides with hyperlinks to all the resources here.Continue reading “Webinar: Science Communication for Ecologists and Environmental Managers”
Forever Meadow: a Poem
I’m delighted that this poem was selected as a finalist in the Floodplain Meadows Partnership Arts Competition 2021 and will be appearing in their 2022 calendar alongside some other fantasitc meadow-inspired artworks. This poem celebrates the full story of floodplain meadows, showing the importance of flooding and haymaking to the natural bounty that lives inContinue reading “Forever Meadow: a Poem”
Talk: Hay Days, meadow science for biodiversity and agriculture
This talk was orginally published as part of the Denbigh School STEM Lecture Series 2021. In this video PhD student, Vicky Bowskill, talks about the science of meadows, including: What meadows are and why they are important for both nature and farming; How the things we do to manage our meadows can affect the lifeContinue reading “Talk: Hay Days, meadow science for biodiversity and agriculture”
Video: How hay makes meadows
PhD researcher, Vicky Bowskill, explains how meadow flowers are able to thrive, despite being mown for hay every summer. Further reading: Video: Yarnton and the importance of haymakingwww.floodplainmeadows.org.ukHaymaking is critical to our heritage hay meadows, but is later really better? Transcript This is a floodplain meadow. It’s mid-July and you can see that the swardContinue reading “Video: How hay makes meadows”
Video: The Art of Hay Sampling
This video was filmed during data collection in June and July 2020. PhD student, Vicky Bowskill, demonstrates how she is sampling floodplain meadow hay to investigate the way nutritional content changes, depending on when it is harvested. This can help land managers to maintain healthy meadows, whilst also providing a balanced diet for pasture-fed livestock.Continue reading “Video: The Art of Hay Sampling”
Video: Yarnton Mead and the importance of haymaking
This video was recorded shortly before National Meadows Day on 04 July 2020. Meadows are a fantastic place to see an abundance of wildlife, but they’re not as wild as you might think; they’re an ancient part of our agricultural landscape that has evolved from the need to produce hay to feed to livestock. But,Continue reading “Video: Yarnton Mead and the importance of haymaking”
Floodplain meadows are not as wild as you might think
This article appeared on the FAI Farm blog in August 2020. Read the original article here. Meadows are a fantastic place to see an abundance of wildlife, but they’re not as wild as you might think; they’re an ancient part of our agricultural landscape that has evolved from the need to produce hay to feedContinue reading “Floodplain meadows are not as wild as you might think”
Make meadow hay while the sun shines, but when?
This article was posted on the Open University News page for National Meadows Day on 04 July 2020. Read the original article here. As the haymaking season begins, an OU PhD student is researching the importance of getting the timing of hay cutting right. Vicky Bowskill, a PhD student in the OU’s Faculty of Science,Continue reading “Make meadow hay while the sun shines, but when?”
Vicky Bowskill 