Duke of York Meadow

This flower-rich meadow takes its name from the adjacent public house from whom the field was purchased by the Trust.  Over 120 species have been recorded here including green-winged orchids, cowslips, great burnet, pepper saxifrage, dyers greenweed and adder’s-tongue fern.  A spectacular show of native wild daffodils blooms each spring, carpeting the field in a sea of yellow.

Butterflies are common here.  More than 20 species have been recorded and include meadow brown and common blue.

The field has probably been used to grow a hay crop for many centuries but there are traces of ridge and furrow running down the field which tells us that  many, many years ago the field was ploughed for an arable crop.  We’re continuing the tradition of allowing a hay crop to grow from April; cutting in July and grazing from then.

Flagship Nature Reserves

This is one of a number of grasslands and one orchard that make up one of 13 flagship reserves.We believe that a landscape-scale approach to wildlife conservation is essential. Wildlife needs space to adapt and move to cope with the consequences of climate change. Practically, this means that to deliver our biodiversity vision, we need to develop a coherent network of large areas linked by corridors that can provide benefits for people as well as for biodiversity.

Why are the South West Meadows a Flagship Reserve?

In a pastoral landscape these scattered sites demonstrate how important each sensitively managed piece of land has become as part of a network of sites that must be increased for people and wildlife to benefit.  We will use them to demonstrate the importance of protecting the existing wildlife value and encourage other land owners to manage their land and hedgerows less intensively.

These 7 small reserves lie within Natural England’s Severn and Avon Vales Landscape Area, and within the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust’s Malvern Chase Living Landscape.