NATURE lovers were treated to a day of wildlife, views and ecology at Shinfield’s Langley Mead nature reserve on Saturday.
The University of Reading marked National Meadows Day with an open day, which included guided walks of the site’s 18 hectares, which follow the bank of the River Loddon.
Visitors were given the chance to learn more about the Langley Mead restoration, which is owned and managed by the University, to a traditional floodplain meadow.
The site is open to the public throughout the year.
Nigel Frankland, from the University’s Estates team and who ran some of the guided walks, said: “We were pleased to welcome lots of visitors to our National Meadows Day event at Langley Mead.
“Some people were interested to learn more about the traditional Aberdeen Angus cattle that we use to graze the fields, while others were keen to hear about the history of the site and the plants and wildlife that can be found there.
“Langley Mead is a great place for people of all ages to explore. We hosted children from St Mary’s Junior School and Shinfield Infants School on the previous day and they had a great time running around the vast open space and searching for and identifying different types of wildflowers that are found in the meadow.”
There were three guided walks for visitors to join, starting with the family-friendly Meet our Bovine Buddies in the morning. Wild about Flora & Fauna and The Langley Mead Extension took place in the afternoon.
Youngsters were tasked with completing wildlife spotter sheets, while some adults chose to take on the self-guided walks, with directions offered at an information stall.
The University is working closely with ecological planning consultancy EPR Ltd, to encourage greater biodiversity and environmental conservation through practices such as creating wildflower meadows, planting hedgerows and creating wetland features.
