Coronation anniversary marked with new meadows

June 2013 marks the 60th anniversary of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. In celebration of this anniversary, 60 "Coronation Meadows" have been identified across the UK as part of a campaign to restore threatened wildflower meadows.

The project which is being led by the Prince of Wales will take seed and grain hay from the designated Coronation Meadows to recreate new ones. By the end of the year, one Coronation meadow will be named in each county.

This campaign follows reports of dramatic declines in many UK meadow flower species. For example:

• green-winged orchids have decreased by 50% over the last 50 years;
• lesser butterfly orchids and greater butterfly orchids have declined by 60% and 47% respectively;
• 67% of distinctively-patterned fritillaries which grow in meadows have disappeared in the last few decades.

In a statement, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales said, "My Coronation Meadows idea came to me when I read Plantlife’s 2012 report and fully appreciated just how many wildflower meadows had been lost over the past 60 years. This year, we are celebrating my mother’s coronation so surely there is no better moment to end this destruction and to stimulate a new mood to protect our remaining meadows and to use them as springboards for the restoration of other sites and the creation of new meadows right across the UK."

The Coronation Meadows idea will be carried out in three stages:

• a Coronation Meadow will be identified in each county;
• identification of sites within each county where green hay and seed from the Coronation Meadow can be used to restore or recreate new meadows;
• map the UK's remaining meadows as no such inventory currently exists.

The project will be led by Plantlife in partnership with the Wildlife Trusts and the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.

For more information, see the:

• coronation meadows website, available at coronationmeadows.org.uk.