Autumn AGM
Our Autumn AGM will be held on 25th October. Full Details to follow
Monmouthshire Botany Group walks
The Monmouthshire Botany Group was established in 2013. The group provides an opportunity for both beginners and those with some botanical knowledge to improve their field ID skills. All are welcome to join the group and meet fellow and aspiring botanists. You will need to contact one of our 2 Vice-County recorders, Steph Tyler or Elsa Wood, to join the group, and pre-book onto any walks.
A basic understanding of botany is advisable. You should bring along a wildflower identification key such as Rose’s The Wildflower Key and a hand lens, both of which can be obtained through the NHBS website.
Meeting dates planned for 2026 include:
April 18th - Lasgarn Wood
May 9th - Sudbrook
June 20th Tarren-yr-escob
July 11th Llangwm Isaf fields
August 15th - Caldicot and Chepstow Industrial Estates
September 19th - Coal tips near Bedwas
Venues may change later if necessary and events may be cancelled due to adverse weather conditions.
Gwent Wildlife Trust
Gwent Wildlife Trust runs events throughout the year, which can be found on their calendar
There are also ideas for fun activities you can do with your children on https://www.wildlifewatch.org.uk/activities
South East Wales Biodiversity Centre SEWBReC
The SEWBReC events diary includes details of events organised by SEBReC and other wildlife organisations.
Open Meadows Saturday 6th June 2026
Our Open Meadows this year were held in stunning meadows in Newchurch and Earlswood, both about half way between Chepstow and Usk, deep in the heart of south Monmouthshire. Visitors were treated to swathes of Southern Marsh-orchids, together with Heath and Common Spotted-orchids, at Prospect House near Newchurch. At Oxpool house near Earlswood the meadows demonstrated the rapid improvement in diversity which can take place over a few years once the advice of our expert botanists has been implemented. With thanks to our hosts, our volunteer botanists, and to our team of volunteers who made it all possible.
April 2026 AGM
Our AGM was followed by 3 short talks focused on nature recovery. Three speakers presented their work on developing Resilient Ecological Networks across Monmouthshire and explained how the wildlife clusters we are developing can support this work. Kate Stinchcombe, Nature Recovery manager for Monmouthshire council highlighted the environmental benefits; Richard Thomas of Natural Resources Wales provided an overview of mapping RENs; and Elliot Waters of the Gwent Green Grid Partnership explained how MMG members can contribute to this important step in nature recovery across Monmouthshire.
January 2026 Hedge-laying course at Wet Meadow
A wonderful introduction to the benefits and techniques of hedge-laying, hosted at our wet meadow in Trellech
November 2025 Wildlife corridors in the community
Our autumn meeting in November, held at Gwehelog Village Hall, was very well attended. The theme of the afternoon was connectivity - that is how we can link up areas to create wildlife corridors and allow nature to thrive. Our guest speakers were Dr Stephanie Tyler and three MMG members: Steph introduced the theme of the meeting and then local members Simon Taylor, Steve Hoselitz and Saran Allot-Davey talked about the delights of their own meadows and pastures, all in the Gwehelog and Trostrey area. Linking these areas was an aim. The talks inspired members from other areas in Monmouthshire to get together with neighbouring meadow owners to see how they could connect up
Open Meadows Day 2025
MMG’s main annual event is, of course, our Open Meadows Day. This year, rather ambitiously, we chose three sites in the far north of the county and just over the border in Powys. It was very remote and despite the planning that went into managing visitors’ cars in the narrow roads and limited parking spots, not everyone managed to reach all the sites as they intended. But goodness, the trip was worth it! Such stunning scenery, and the meadows were incredible.
At Harry Marshall’s Box Bush Farm in Capel-y-ffin, visitors were able to visit this designated SSSI with a wide range of species on view. Our other open meadows were Nant-y-Bedd, which many will know as the gardens run by Ian and Sue Mabberley in the Grwyn Fawr valley; and Ty Major near Fforest Coalpit, the home of Sheelagh Kerry and Peter Smith. Sheelagh is one of our team of botanists who undertake surveys of members’ land. We had over 70 visitors in all and we can’t thank the hosts and volunteers enough for making it possible.
Cattle on Wet Meadow
We are trialling having cattle on Wet Meadow reserve rather than taking a hay cut each year. The intention is to support invertebrate life by reducing the ‘shock’ of cutting and removing the grassland habitat over the course of a couple of days.
Grazing Management Ltd has provided 10 beef steers to summer graze for two years, controlling the cattle movements with Nofence technology.
This project has been supported by a grant from Wye Valley Natural Landscapes, to whom we are very grateful. A team of volunteers cattle check the cattle each day. The cattle have become very popular with local walkers.
April 2025 AGM
Clare Whittle (dungbeetlesforfarmers.co.uk) gave an excellent talk on Dung Beetles at our AGM in April. Claire is a vet whose special interest is the positive impact of regenerative agriculture on animal health and welfare. She really brought home the importance of these little guys. They don’t just break down dung and facilitate nutrient recycling. They contribute to maintaining healthy cattle, for example by reducing parasites. Their tunnelling helps to aerate the soil, allowing water to soak through and reducing run-off as well as assisting with carbon sequestration. These useful little creatures are highly endangered by the usual suspects: habitat loss, climate change, pesticides, and other modern farming practices. Keeping animals housed inside means there is no dung for beetles to eat over winter, and anti-parasitic treatments given to farm animals are lethal to dung beetles. There are hopeful signs that more sustainable solutions can be found to the latter: read more at www.cattleparasites.org.uk and www.scops.org.uk