Dunnet Bay Coronation Meadow Survey

On Tuesday 18th of July I joined an event held by Louise Senior (people engagement officer for Species on the Edge) and Samantha Suter (a researcher from the university of Glasgow) to survey the grasslands within the Coronation meadow in Dunnet bay.

In 2012, HRH The Prince of Wales called for the creation of new wildflower meadows. There was to be at least one in every county to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Coronation and the Dunnet Bay location was selected for Caithness. 

Wildflower meadows are a much-loved part of the British scenery. However, 97% have been lost over the last 75 years. There are many declining species of plants, flowers and insects that call these meadows their home, which makes these areas and the people that protect and survey them especially important.  

We were incredibly lucky with some lovely weather and a great turnout with lots of younger people showing a lot of interest in the event. Louise and Samantha started off by explaining a little about the meadow and the importance of protecting it. We discussed the varied species of insects that rely on the meadows such as butterflies and moths and the different flowers we were hoping to see.  

Sam and Louise came prepared with quadrats and lots of books, a leaflet to help some of the beginners (me included) navigate the varieties of species we would see. One large group turned into 3 smaller groups, and we used our newly learned skills to survey the area!

We all had a lot of fun and some good laughs while doing our part to get the data out into the world of our little patch of grassland in the far north! It was lovely to see such a wide range of experiences coming together to share knowledge and conversations in the community. 

We were incredibly lucky to see some Scottish primrose! The Scottish primrose is found along our north coast including Dunnet head, the Scottish primrose is found only in Scotland and nowhere else in the world! We learned that the main threat to the Scottish primrose is inappropriate grazing and climate change as its extremely sensitive to where it grows. 

Once all the data was collected for the day we sat for a chat and some tea and biscuits. Overall, a lovely lighthearted afternoon in our local area while learning about the importance of our habitat and grasslands and how we can protect and manage them for the future.