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Bardfield Oxlip Recovery Programme
Location: Essex
This project is about the people of Great Bardfield, under the guidance of the Essex Wildlife Trust, taking action to save and then increase the population of a plant called the Oxlip (Primula elatior) in their parish.
Why? The Oxlip is a nationally scarce plant with a very limited distribution that encompasses only an area where Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire meet. A survey by the Essex Wildlife Trust in 2002 revealed a significant decrease in the number of plants in the country, a decline that was mirrored in Great Bardfield. This was particularly important since Bardfield has played a key role in the history of this fascinating plant.
Henry Doubleday, in 1842 described the oxlips in Bardfield as 'growing by the thousands' . However the Survey of 2002 revealed this population of thousands is now reduced to not more than 20 plants.
The aims of this project are:
1. To avoid the extinction of the oxlip from the village of Bardfield.
2. To increase number of plants in the parish by introducing oxlips into selected meadow sites in the parish.
3.To train and guide the people of Bardfield in the management of the meadows so they can sustain the new populations of oxlips themselves.
4. To develop an appropriate educational program with the village school.
5. To further investigate the history of the plant in Bardfield through the work of the local history society.
| Grants: |
Heritage Lottery Fund: £21102
Nationwide Building Society: £1800
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