Habitat enhancement at City Farm

We are seeking funding for habitat enhancement under 4 headings:
1. Enhancement of species-poor hay meadows. City Farm contains 61 acres of hay meadow either recently created or ‘agriculturally improved’ and now species-poor. After consultation with Plantlife, it was decided that grassland plant species could be introduced to these fields by seeding. Only species already occurring on the farm would be introduced using seed of British provenance.
2. Thistle control. Our main method of thistle control is crop rotation using a clover-based mix. However, two areas containing rare arable plants are too acidic for clover to grow vigorously. Here, thistles will have to be cut mechanically and removed to prevent smothering the small rare plants.
3. Hedge and tree planting. We would like to plant a hedge along the N and E boundaries of the ex-landfill site and plant two small areas of trees, primarily to prevent the spread of arable weed seeds to the neighbouring farm.
4. Restoration of 4 small ponds.