Hay meadow project launched

And one of the first farmers to join is Richard Spry who has a rare sub-species of Lady's-Mantle in a meadow at Newbiggin in Teesdale.

"We have been aware of it for some time but have been told that, apart from one other field at Holwick, it is not found anywhere else," said Mr Spry.

As part of his new Higher Level Stewardship agreement he will be paid to collect seeds from his meadows to help rejuvenate other fields.

Working with hay meadow project officer John O'Reilly hay will be cut in the field and put into round bales.

The bales will then be spread and shaken across his other three meadows so the seeds drop out helping the wild flowers to spread.

Mr Spry has no idea how the sub-species came to be in the field. "The older generation around here say the field was ploughed up within living memory," he said.

Mr Spry and his wife, Christine, have lived at the farm for ten years and were previously in the now defunct environmentally sensitive area scheme. Similar controls on inputs, grazing and cutting dates are included in the new scheme.

The Hay Time project is a partnership between the North Pennines AONB Partnership, the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.

Thanks to traditional farming practices the AONB contains more than 40pc of the UKs upland hay meadows.

John O'Reilly, the new Hay Time Project Officer, wants to work closely with farmers across the AONB.

He wants to establish a collection and distribution system of high quality local hay meadow seed and set up harvesting contracts with agricultural contractors.

Demonstration sites will be established and specific training given on land management techniques to benefit hay meadows.

Interested farmers and contractors can contact Mr O'Reilly or Rebecca Barrett, AONB area co-ordinator, on 01388 528 801.

More than 900 farmers and land managers in the region have now signed Environmental Stewardship agreements.