Lancashire Wildlife Trust welcomes Lord Lieutenant

This week our peat team along with farmers Cam and Lisa Edwards from Goose Meadow Farming Ltd welcomed Amanda Parker, the Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire to show her our paludiculture trial in West Lancashire.

Five people standing an chatting on a bright sunny day, one is holding a bulrush head

It was a beautiful sunny warm day in Great Altcar for the peat team and farmers Cam and Lisa Edwards as they welcomed Amanda Parker, the Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire, Deputies and some of the local council to Gore House Farm to see the bulrush crop and talk about paludiculture.

After an introduction from Sarah Johnson, Head of Peatland Recovery, and Mike Longdon, Technical Lead about the background of paludiculture, as well as some background from Cam and Lisa behind Goose Meadow Farming Ltd's decision to get involved in the trial, it was off to the field to have a look at the crop.

Four people standing on a farm, one holding a bulrush stem

Chatting about the challenges behind farming the crop, as well as the market for bulrushes - in this case for Ponda®'s BioPuff® fabric and hopefully in the future biomass and other uses for the stalks, there was also talk about what the future might hold with regards to government schemes like Countryside Stewardship.

After Cam described his innovative creations for sowing and harvesting the crop, it had to be back to the barn to see Edna, the bulrush harvester Cam has made from an old apple harvester.