Field Excursions

The mid-Conference field excursion will visit a selection of sites in the Târnava Mare landscape, with an emphasis on the pastures and positive and negative aspects of sheep-grazing. The sites visited will include a cluster of topographically impressive and floristically rich movile near Apold, just south of Sighisoara, and a traditional sheepfold or stâna on hills near Viscri to demonstrate aspects of pastoral farming and practical management of pastures and adjacent hay-meadows. Plants will still be in flower, notably long-flowering species such as Prunella spp. and Scabiosa ochroleuca, lilac sheets of Colchicum autumnale in mesic grassland, and Aster amellus, Carlina acaulis and Gentianopsis ciliata in drier grassland. There will be a chance to visit one or more fortified churches and we shall all join in a traditional village meal at the end of the excursion.

The post-Conference field excursion will visit the Mercurea Ciuc (Csikszereda) farmed landscape in the Hungarian-speaking area to the east, the emphasis here being on species-rich mountain hay-meadows that are still the mainstay of the highland rural economy. This excursion will demonstrate another type of subsistence farming, and will also be an opportunity to observe traditional upland farming and even to participate in scything!