Dr Irina Tatarenko from the Open University will give us an update on aspects of the work of this long-term project:
Over recent decades, the multiple functions of floodplains have been widely recognised and a number of projects to restore them have been carried out around the world. More than 97% of these habitats have been lost from the floodplains of Europe due to intensive agriculture in 1930-1980s, and to a lesser extent in the following years.  Moist or wet, mesotrophic to eutrophic hay meadows are classed as Endangered in the European Red List of habitats. Floodplain Meadow Partnership, based at the Open University, carried out a nationwide survey of meadow restoration projects in 2016-2018. The talk will summarise the main findings of that survey with a special focus on floodplain meadows managed by Milton Keynes Park Trust. How can we measure the restoration success? What are the major factors responsible for the success or failure?   Those and other related questions will be included in the discussion.