Tractor Workshop at Pinkhill Farm
Nature Recovery Network’s small tractor kit is put through its paces by farmers and landowners on the Thames above Oxford – part of Long Mead Foundation’s Thames Valley Wildflower Meadow Restoration Project and Nature Recovery Network.
Natural England has funded the equipment for the creation and management of small meadows to facilitate Long Mead Foundation’s work towards creating the first connected floodplain meadow network in Oxfordshire, dedicated to the survival of the extremely rare Great burnet Meadow foxtail meadow (MG4 grassland).
Old floodplain meadows tend to be small - and braided by streams with small bridges. Today’s standard agricultural equipment is too large both for the restoration of them and for ongoing management. Natural England has funded the purchase of a small tractor and hay-making equipment, as well as equipment for creating new meadows – a forage harvester, harrows and a roller.
The equipment is designed to be a ‘tractor pool’ to share among the farmers and landowners for whom Long Mead Foundation has created floodplain meadows along the River Thames above Oxford as well as along the River Cherwell within Oxford.
The workshop was hosted by Pinkhill Farm. Attendees included head-gardeners from Magdalen and Lady Margaret Hall Colleges in Oxford as well as members of the Wychwood Forest Trust, and several local community organisations.