Volunteer Day October 2024
A busy day was had by all our volunteers this October 3rd as they tackled the proliferation of brambles in the Meadows.
Later in October we’ll have the services of a robomower - part remote controlled lawn mower, part Chieftain tank - which can chop its way through the much denser clumps of brambles that have proliferated this year.
Volunteers to help with this are most welcome. Contact David our co-ordinator for more information on our email friendsofpewleymeadows@gmail.com.
Ragwort in the Meadows
The glorious, golden flowers of Ragwort are studding the meadows during these summer months.
Look closely at the flowers and you will see a wide variety of bees, beetles, hoverflies and moths on its daisy-like flowers. The words "nectar rich" barely begin to describe its value to wildlife.
It is the foodplant of cinnabar moth caterpillars whose bright yellow and black colouring give a clue as to why Ragwort has earned its other (undeserved) reputation.
Ragwort is highly toxic to grazing animals BUT animals will never touch it if left to their own devices, and so we leave it to flourish in the Meadows, secure in the knowledge that it will not harm our cattle, sheep, deer or rabbits.
We are official!
Our new interpretation board has been installed at the top of the Chalk Path. Designed and funded by Surrey Wildlife Trust, it has lots of information about Pewley Meadows for visitors to read. It also has an adjacent noticeboard for the Friends of Pewley Meadows to update visitors about events and news about the Meadows.
We did it!
Thanks to the generosity of many of our Friends of Pewley Meadows, we have reached our funding target to design and buy a viewfinder installation. This will go in the Easter Meadow by the new bench hopefully by the Autumn.
Spotted in the Meadows this May 2024
A male Stonechat was photographed by the chalk path dividing the Meadows, surveying the scenery!
Birdwatching in the Meadows
April heralded the arrival of some less frequent but nevertheless very welcome feathered visitors to the Meadows. Here on the right is a lovely Linnet spotted in the Eastern Meadows recently and below is a Grey Goose who stopped for a break in its flightpath!
Grey goose
Help us to buy a viewfinder!
We are hoping to put a viewfinder installation at the view point in the Eastern meadows (under the Beech trees alongside the Burgess Way walk), together with a new bench. We hope this will encourage walkers to stop for a minute and enjoy the far reaching views across swathes of the home counties and Thames Valley. To help them we are planning a panoramic guide to some of the vista in front of them, which includes far away hills, the Wembley Arch on a clear day and other points of interest.
Join us for our 2024 AGM
Its on Monday 19th February at 7pm for 7.15pm and will be held at Holy Trinity school on Addison Road. All are welcome - bring your own refreshments !
Last year’s AGM minutes can be read here.
Bramble clearing in November 2023
On a lovely clear November day, members of the Friends of Pewley Meadows committee and extra helpers took to the chalk grasslands with Surrey Wildlife Conservation Manager, Katy Fielding, to tidy up the meadows. They worked hard to clear the site of brambles and other vegetation that has a tendency to take over, as well as removing the seasonal route markers ahead of our returning cattle who are due back into Rosamund and Pewley Meadows over the winter period. Great work everyone.
Pewley Meadows & Grazing Update Webinar
Wednesday 2nd August, 7:00-8:00pm
Watch Surrey Wildlife Trust Conservation Manager, Katy Fielding’s webinar, where she talks through plans for Pewley Meadows over the coming months into 2024 and plans for grazing.
Click here to watch.
Wildlife and fauna in Pewley Meadows
We recently distributed this handy guide to some of the flora, fauna and wildlife that you can find in the Meadows this summer.
Don’t forgot to take a closer look by wandering along one of the seasonal routes marked out inside the perimeter fencing, through the gates.
Pewley Meadows Wildlife Event and Violin Recital
Sunday 25 June 2:30pm – 5pm
As part of Holy Trinity Amenity Group's (HTAG) “Open Gardens” day, we’re running guided walks in Pewley Meadows to see the abundant summer wildlife alongside the internal seasonal routes.
With short talks every half an hour from 2.30pm about what to see in the Meadows, guided walks along the seasonal routes to look at wildflowers not visible on the perimeter path, see butterflies and other wildlife that make the Meadows their home, visitors can also enjoy local composer Rhiannon Randle playing excerpts from The Lark Ascending on the violin at 3:30pm and 4:00pm - hopefully with a skylark accompaniment!
The Pewley Meadows event is free to attend, but there will be a collection bucket for your loose change with donations going towards an HTAG organised excursion for senior residents and relatives, as well as fundraising for Pewley Meadows conservation.
Find us close to the pedestrian gate on the lower side of the Meadows near to Holy Trinity school at the end of Addison Way, where the talks will be held - look out for the Surrey Wildlife Trust gazebo.
Tickets to visit the open gardens, enjoy refreshments plus a plant sale, are available for £3 cash (children free) after 2pm on the day from 41 Pewley Way. You can also buy tickets at the Meadow’s event.
*Sorry, dogs are not permitted through the gates into the Meadow, to minimise disturbance to the skylarks.
Enjoy the new seasonal routes
From April 30, 2023, everyone is welcome to go inside the Western Meadow, through the gates in the fencing, to take a closer look at the special chalkland habitat we have on our doorstep.
There will be information available if there are notable species of interest that have grown or arrived recently.
Please - no dogs on the seasonal routes or inside the Meadows’ fenced area, as they can inadvertently destroy delicate nesting areas and ecosystems.
Summer is on the way!
We went up to the Meadows on a lovely sunny April evening recently to discuss the new seasonal routes that are being prepared for local nature lovers to get a closer look at the wildlife in the meadows.
While we were there we spotted this basking slow worm who was enjoying the evening sunshine and the song of the skylarks!
Latest newsletter from Guildford Environmental Forum.
The Friends of Pewley Meadows are members of the Guildford Environmental Forum. Please click here for their latest 2022/2023 newsletter
The Meadows are open!
Winter 2022 has seen work done by Surrey Wildlife Trust to secure the meadows in advance of the cows coming in to graze and prepare them for the Spring . Cows are amazing natural cultivators as many of you know, as their hooves naturally churn up the ground and create opportunities for wildlife to thrive. The action of their chewing and tugging on grass also promotes bio-diversity.
We now have 15-20 Belted Galloways grazing the eastern meadow and fencing is complete so natural walkways alongside this meadow are open for all to enjoy the views. Work is underway in the western meadow to complete fencing and ensure everyone can walk in there peacefully. We would ask also that dogs are kept on a lead whilst walking the meadows.
Latest update on Pewley Meadows, September 2022
Committee volunteers working on the Meadows in late August readying them for fencing installation in September. We hope to see cows in the Meadows by October followed by walkways around much of the perimeter of the Meadows.
Latest Guildford Environmental Forum (GEF) newsletter
As members of the GEF, all Friends of Pewley Meadows have access to their informative newsletter.
The latest one can be viewed here
New species discovered!
Surrey Wildlife Trust have reported a “new” species in the Meadows - one that hasn’t been here since the 1970s!
Their invertebrate survey team have found “Graptus Triggutatus” back in our chalklands after many years away.
They are delighted to see this, and we all hope to see many more new and returning species over the next few years, once the Belted Galloway cattle are grazing the Meadows,
Celebrations!
Friday 13th May 2022 was an auspicious day - the anniversary of our successful auction bid to win the Meadows. We celebrated this with Friends of Pewley Meadows in front of the Tin Shed gate on the Warren Road-Pewley Down footpath.
On a beautiful summer evening, we heard an update on progress and sipped some rather delicious local Pewley Down sparkling wine.
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