ON April 16, Herefordshire Wildlife Trust hosted their annual Fritillary Day, welcoming visitors to their Lower House Farm headquarters in Tupsley and leading guided walks across Lugg Meadow to spot the rare snake's head fritillary flower.

While visitors were simply enjoying the beauty of the flowers, a team of volunteers, coordinated by the Floodplain Meadows Partnership, were hard at work undertaking a detailed. With the support of local volunteers, the Floodplain Meadows Partnership and Natural England have been monitoring this species on Lugg Meadow for five years to develop an understanding of how the population of this wildflower species responds to changes in weather and climate over time.

Floodplain Meadows Partnership outreach co-ordinator, Emma Rothero, said: "A programme of consistent, long-term monitoring will enable us to observe the impacts of climatic events on this beautiful species."

As an iconic flower in a traditional floodplain farming system, the snake's-head fritillary is now a rare species, found on fewer than 30 wild floodplain meadow sites in the UK. On Lugg Meadow, snake's-head fritillaries provide a spectacular display and are visited by many nature-lovers each year.

Alongside the guided walks, the Trust's WildPlay team ran a Buzzing Blooms Explorer Walk for younger visitors, which was fully booked, Plant Wild, Henryka Jewellery and Bea Bromhead-Wragg showcased fritillary-themed gifts and plants and Rocket Café served up pizza to hungry walkers.

Event organiser, Stas Calder, commented: "In the past we have had to postpone the event due to flooding but the fritillaries have flowered right on time this year and looked wonderful."

Over 100 people attended the event which raised nearly £700 to support the work of Herefordshire Wildlife Trust.