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Location: near Settle, Yorkshire Dales National Park, North Yorkshire OS: SD 836662 What Three Words location: ///outwards.swims.bigger
Habitat: Limestone pavement and limestone pasture
A unique landscape with spectacular views northwards to the Yorkshire “Three Peaks” of Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen-y-Ghent.
The deep fissures in the limestone pavement provide a moist, shady hideaway for a range of woodland plants including ramsons, Dog’s Mercury Mercurialis perennis and Green Spleenwort Asplenium viride. In the pasture you will find Mountain Pansy, Cowslips and Early-purple Orchids.
Plantlife bought Winskill Stones with the help of a public appeal to stop the extraction of rock from its limestone pavement and to allow its varied flora to thrive. We would also like to take the opportunity to thank the Ian Addison Charitable Foundation for their long term support of this reserve.
Other species prefer the low cliffs or humpbacks of limestone around the reserve, and the boldest displays of colour can be found on the ledges out of reach of grazing animals. You may see Kidney Vetch, Horseshoe Vetch, Common Rock-rose and 2 saxifrages, with Meadow Saxifrage usually found in grassland whilst Mossy Saxifrage prefers more exposed conditions.
Where the soil is thinner, or on crumbling limestone, you can find cushions of Spring Sandwort, whose flowers have five white petals that are just a little longer than the green sepals between them. Here too are mats of Limestone Bedstraw, with tiny white flowers and narrow leaves in whorls of six to eight up its stems. Herbs such as this and Wild Thyme are beginning to colonise even the desolate patches of rubble waste and pavement remains in two of the reserve’s fields. Rarities that are harder to spot include Green Spleenwort, Common Twayblade and Wall Lettuce.
Please take care on your visit. Be aware of the terrain and of any roads that pass through the reserve. Note that livestock periodically graze many of our reserves as part of their management.
Location: near Settle, Yorkshire Dales National Park, North Yorkshire
Grid Reference: SD 836 662
Wild Thyme at Winskill Stones Nature Reserve
Curlew at Winskill Stones Nature Reserve
Kidney Vetch at Winskill Stones Nature Reserve
View out across to Pen y Ghent
Green Spleenwort
Early Purple Orchid
Winskill Stones is a 74-acre reserve of limestone pavement and limestone pasture. Discover more about it with this resource.
Come with us to discover this wild space together and see what we can find.
24 Plantlife
Location: Checkley, HerefordshireOS: SO 592374What Three Words location: ///paintings.fashion.feels
Habitat: Meadows, pasture and woodland
Joan’s Hill Farm, set in the Wye Valley National Landscapes, is a stunning piece of Herefordshire meadowland alongside a small area of woodland. The reserve is one of several of Plantlife’s reserves to hold that generally scarce Pepper-saxifrage as well as the uncommon Dyer’s Greenweed and Greater Butterfly-orchid Platanthera chlorantha.
Some of the meadow species are less common. Also found here is Dyer’s Greenweed. It looks a little like a low-growing broom, although no more than 70cm tall, but it has no spines and its leaves are unlobed. It is a species of old meadows and grassy pastures, and was once used to produce yellow and green dyes.
The eastern block of pasture land, covering around six acres, hosts species like betony, and in the small area of woodland at the west of the reserve you’ll find many typical woodland plants.
A stunning piece of Herefordshire meadowland, set in the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Until relatively recently it was still a working farm (the farmhouse is still privately owned) and our land here is divided into 14 different fields, with one parcel of woodland. Three hundred years ago, the farm had exactly the same boundaries as today, and the pattern of fields has hardly changed since the tithe map of 1843.
The reserve is in two parcels, separated by about 300m, but the largest part is a 40-acre block of meadow. To conserve the flowers and wildlife, we cut the meadows for hay in late summer, after the meadow plants have flowered and set seed. Any regrowth is then grazed by cattle during the autumn, but for the rest of year grazing animals are kept off the meadows to encourage the greatest diversity of plants.
Park at Haugh Wood car park and picnic site, just off the road from Mordiford to Woolhope (grid reference: SO 592 365).
Purchase of the reserve was made possible by Unilever (Timotei) and the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Sloping wildflower meadow at Joan’s Hill reserve
A meadow of daisies and orchids at Joan’s Hill Farm
Green-winged Orchid at Joans Hill Farm reserve
Common Carder Bee on Devil’s-bit Scabious
Spindle berries in the hedge
Tree surgeons pruning and removing (a proportion of the) mistletoe, to prolong the lives of our old apple trees at Joan’s Hill Farm orchard.
Veteran apple tree in blossom at The Old Orchard
Rosy Bonnet at Joan’s Hill Farm woodland
A sea of yellow wildflowers at Joan’s Hill Farm
A six-spot burnet moth caterpillar, munching on common bird’s-foot trefoil in the meadows at Joan’s Hill Farm
Location: near Lampeter, Carmarthenshire, Wales OS: SN 604441 What Three Words location: ///boomers.abundance.premature
Habitat: Species-rich neutral pasture
On a ridge above Lampeter, Cae Blaen-dyffryn is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) because of the importance of its species-rich neutral grassland, and Lesser Butterfly Orchid Platanthera bifolia population. Visitors can marvel at Butterfly-orchids and waxcap fungi, and spot the elusive Moonwort Fern Botrychium lunaria.
The upper slopes are dry grassland, with typical species like Red Clover, Common Knapweed, Common Bird’s-foot Trefoil, and Cat’s-ear. Drainage is poorer lower down, where a mire community characterised by big tussocks of Purple Moor-grass also includes Ragged-robin, Marsh Thistle and Common Valerian.
This is one of the few Plantlife reserves where fungi are recorded as a special feature, with 5 species of waxcap, best seen on the reserve from September to November. Pink waxcap is uncommon and only grows on grasslands not affected by modern agriculture.
Cae Blaen-dyffryn is a single large field – Cae means field in Welsh – sloping upwards, gently at first and then more steeply before levelling off at 340m above sea level.
In total, more than 160 flowering plant species have been recorded on the reserve, which is managed by light cattle-grazing to stop taller, fast-growing species overwhelming the more delicate grassland specialities.
There are no public rights of way into the nature reserve and access is via stock gate from the A482 itself.
Park safely in nearby lanes and access the site from the main road; please take care on the roadside.
No dogs please.
Grid Ref: SN605443, postcode SA48 8EZ
Purchase of the reserve was made possible by Unilever (Timotei).
Location: Capel Uchaf, near Clynnog Fawr, Gwynedd, Wales OS: SH 431488 What Three Word location: ///lotteries.dusted.birthdays
Habitat: Species-rich neutral haymeadow and rhos pasture
Caeau Tan y Bwlch lies on the hillside above Clynnog Fawr, at the eastern end of the Llŷn peninsula, Wales. Its name means “the fields below the mountain pass”.
With magnificent views of Anglesey and Eryri/Snowdonia, this botanically important site is full of meadow grasses, sedges, bog mosses and flowers like rare eyebrights. Caeau Tan y Bwlch’s grassland has been traditionally managed without fertiliser or reseeding, leading to this floral feast.
The reserve’s small fields are bordered by clawdd walls – a stone-faced earth bank, where the stone is set on edge almost like the wall of some Medieval castle.
Its history helps explain why the reserve is so important botanically. Its Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) citation commends it as one of the few remaining examples of traditionally managed, enclosed pastures on the Lleyn,
The nature reserve is made up of a number of small, historic field enclosures. The upper fields are species rich hay meadows, and contain a growing population of Greater Butterfly Orchids.
The lower fields are damper, and filled with taller plants like Purple Moor Grass Molinia caerulea and rushes. you will also find sedges, Sneezewort Achillea ptarmica, Marsh Violet Viola palustris and much more.
Turn off the A499 from Caernarfon to Pwllheli into the village of Clynnog Fawr. Take the 2nd left and then turn immediately right by the school, signposted to Capel Uchaf.
Continue for about ¾ mile and take the first right uphill – access is concealed and unsigned. Continue up this winding, single-track road for about 1 mile. After a turn to the left, the reserve’s car park is a further 150 metres on your left through a gate.
This nature reserve is owned by Plantlife, but managed by North Wales Wildlife Trust, with whom we work closely.
Butterfly Orchids on the reserve
Nature Reserve Diary
Our Augill Pasture reserve is a shining example of mountain hay meadow habitat in Cumbria which needs careful year round management by the Plantlife and Cumbria Wildlife Trusts team. We hear from Nature Reserves Manager Andrew Kearsey about how we’ve been working to protect the reserve this winter.
One of the biggest issues facing our nature reserves is the ongoing management of Ash trees suffering from dieback – Augill is no different as the woodland there is about 10% Ash. Some of the ash trees were identified through our tree safety surveys as being diseased and close to footpaths and the car park.
Two of the diseased trees were overhanging the Augill Smelt Mill. Any limb shedding would cause further damage to this structure, which is on the Historic England Scheduled Monument At-Risk register.
We made the decision to employ a local firm of tree surgeons to remove both these trees and several other ash trees around the car park. This work was delivered working with our tenant for the reserve; Cumbria Wildlife Trust.
The trees were removed in Mid-January and I went recently to check on their progress. When I arrived they had cordoned off the car park and footpaths and had their climber in the larger of the two trees removing the higher limbs. By the time I left about 2 hours later, they had removed the majority of the limbs, while the ground crew had processed the brash and timber into log piles and brash windrows
Pony grazed meadows at Augill Pasture Nature Reserve. Image by Andrew Kearsey Andrew
The grassland at Augill Pasture is managed by grazing and unusually for our reserves it is grazed by ponies. Two small ponies were put on the reserve in October and were taken off recently, as the weather became very cold at the beginning of January. This grazing will have controlled the growth of the grass species, allowing the forb species enough space to grow as the weather turns warmer.”
Plantife’s Meadows Hub has everything you need to help you manage your meadow or grassland including practical step by step advice, resources, links to training days and expert knowledge
Only 3.2% of England’s land and sea is protected. This is why nature reserves are so important.
They are protected havens for wild plants and wildlife. Will you help keep them flourishing?
Erin Shott
Discover 4 new walk ideas and Scottish spring adventure inspiration from Plantlife Scotland’s Communications and Policy Officer, Erin Shott.
Look, the seasons, they are a-changing and I don’t know about you, but I am so looking forward to that sweet, sweet spring time weather. After the cold winter days and long winter nights, I am so ready to get out there and breathe in the freshness of spring.
I would highly recommend taking a visit to one of Scotland’s rainforests if you have the opportunity. The high rainfall, and mild temperatures result in lush mossy areas just bursting with lichens and bryophytes it really does feel like I’ve stepped into a fairy tale. And if that doesn’t attract your attention then you’ll be impressed with the sheer abundance, diversity, and rarity of the species of Scotland’s rainforest.
It won’t be my first visit to the temperate rainforest; however, I’ve visited Glen Nant in the past. Plantlife has a downloadable handy wild plant walk leaflet for the Glen Nant Important Plant Area (IPA), so it was a solid motivation for a visit for me.
But I hear you ask, what if I don’t want to visit a rainforest site? Looking for something short and located in the central belt?
Then download and check out North Berwick Law, our guide is for a nice 1 mile hike up one iconic hill in East Lothian. Plenty of opportunity to spot wild plants too, like Meadow Saxifrage Saxifraga granulata, this snow-white species is found in dry grasslands, or the hilariously named Cuckooflower Cardamine pratensis, due to its delicate purple flowers starting to bloom just as the cuckoo first begins its call.
If you’re the Munro bagging type, then check out the Ben Nevis IPA, a delightful 10-mile hike that is absolutely rich in Bog Asphodel Narthecium ossifragum a plant once used for its potential as a natural dye or the delightfully carnivorous Round-leaved Sundew Drosera rotundifolia (image by Michael Scott) which have long red-coloured stalks that are often seen with globules of ‘dew’ hanging from them. These globules are a polysaccharide solution to trap and digest their prey.
If you’re keen to spend a day out in the Cairngorms, take some time to discover Anagach woods IPA. Download your a free guide here. Soak in the wonders of the Caledonian pinewoods, maybe you’ll spot the rare and iconic Twinflower Linnaea borealis? This special plant is a focal point for our Cairngorms Rare Plants Project. You might also find some Wood sorrel Oxalis acetosella, with its clover-shaped leaves (that taste like apples), this springtime bloomer has delicate white flowers with lilac coloured veins.
Saving the endangered Three-lobed Water Crowfoot plant, which is considered as an aquatic buttercup species.
New pools are being created at Greena Moor, a secluded Cornish nature reserve, for the endangered Three-lobed Water Crowfoot Ranunculus tripartitus.
The work was funded by Natural England through their Species Recovery Programme and charitable trusts including the Stuart Heath Charitable Settlement. Nature Reserves Manager Jonathan Stone have been working to protect the ‘star’ of Greena Moor.
Three-lobed Water Crowfoot is an aquatic member of the buttercup family, the plant has small, white, starry flowers. Like most crowfoots, it has two kinds of leaves; the surface leaves are three-lobed and broad, but the underwater leaves – rarely seen with this species but seen here in this photo – are finely divided and feathery.
In March 2020, Three-lobed Crowfoot occupied only two small pools near the ford, covering an area of just 7m2, and it was clear that a lack of suitable shallow water bodies was preventing further spread of the species at Greena.
Grazing also plays an important role, helping to control competing vegetation and distributing seed. The cattle grazing at Greena appears ideal, and on the Cornish Lizard heaths Three-lobed Crowfoot has become far more common under similar management conditions.
The nature reserves management team have created 10 new pools to encourage more Three-lobed Crowfoot plant. We are very hopeful to seeing similar increases of this beautiful endangered plant over the coming years.
Alistair Whyte, Head of Plantlife Scotland shares his thoughts on Scotland's Plant Relict, Purple Oxytropis
The effort Greena Moor Nature Reserve management team put in place to save the Three-lobed Water Crowfoot.
Join Senior Ecologist Sarah Shuttleworth for a deadwood date, as she shares what gets fungi swiping right on the wood wide web.
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