Herefordshire Wildlife Trust

Herefordshire Wildlife Trust We work to create a Herefordshire that is richer and more diverse in wildlife and that is valued, and cared for, by its people, to the benefit of all.

*Nature Reserve Notes: Davies Meadows Nature Reserve*The very dry spring has resulted in the ice-age pond in Cockley Gre...
18/06/2026

*Nature Reserve Notes: Davies Meadows Nature Reserve*

The very dry spring has resulted in the ice-age pond in Cockley Green Field, drying up completely. This tends to happen most years, albeit usually later in the summer. In the winter, it is also the first to flood on the reserve, compared to the other nearby wetland and pond which is slower to fill but keeps its water for longer through the summer. This interesting contrast provides varying habitats for invertebrates and amphibians but also plants that thrive as the water draws down.

At the moment, marsh bedstraw is growing in great swathes on the margins of the dried-up pond. With its distinct white flowers and sweet scent, it makes for an attractive contrast against the yellow flowering buttercup, cinquefoil and tormentil, and the purple flower spikes of creeping bent and Yorkshire fog grasses.

Images (c) Lewis Goldwater

Day 3 and 4 of our work experience week. At Bartonsham Meadows, our meadows restoration project, they helped w**d around...
18/06/2026

Day 3 and 4 of our work experience week. At Bartonsham Meadows, our meadows restoration project, they helped w**d around young trees (whips) planted this March and carried out invertebrate surveys. Today they were at Titley Pools helping control the bracken which unchecked encroaches on to the species rich meadow at this beautiful reserve. There’s been lots of fun, laughter and hard work. A great couple of days.

Day two of our work experience week. Yesterday the students learned about invasive species and spent the morning removin...
16/06/2026

Day two of our work experience week. Yesterday the students learned about invasive species and spent the morning removing Himalayan balsam at our Bodenham Lake nature reserve. In the afternoon they had time bird watching, visiting the hides around the lake and enjoying this beautiful reserve. Today we’re at Birches Farm nature reserve with Tim Kaye from CIC learning about plant families and ways to identify them. Find of the morning was Dyer’s greenw**d an increasingly rare plant. What a great start to our week 😊

💚 Membership Monday💚🌳A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for our Supporters Discovery Day at Woolhope Dome last T...
15/06/2026

💚 Membership Monday💚

🌳A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for our Supporters Discovery Day at Woolhope Dome last Tuesday.

🦋We enjoyed a fascinating walk around our reserves led by Nic Howes, with Bob Hall sharing his extensive knowledge of the conservation work taking place across the reserves, as well as helping us identify the butterflies and moths we spotted along the way.

💚The day also included an update from our CEO, Saul Herbert, who shared the latest news from Herefordshire Wildlife Trust and our ambitions for the future.

A highlight of the afternoon was working together on a collaborative task exploring priorities for our strategy refresh. It was fantastic to hear such thoughtful ideas and perspectives from our supporters, whose passion and commitment continue to shape our work.

Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to such an inspiring and productive day. Together, we can do even more for wildlife and wild places across Herefordshire.

*Nature Reserve Notes*Voluntary Warden David reports from Stockings Meadow:"Lovely day at Stockings Meadow (just outside...
15/06/2026

*Nature Reserve Notes*

Voluntary Warden David reports from Stockings Meadow:

"Lovely day at Stockings Meadow (just outside Bromyard). Swallows swooping and feeding over the hay meadow. Hundred’s of common spotted orchids, a technicolour of wild flowers, insects feeding and meadow brown butterflies."

This is the perfect time of year to visit our meadows across Herefordshire! Head to our website to discover more wonderful wildflower meadows!

*When visiting meadows, please keep to the edges and, sorry, no dogs please. This is because meadows can hide ground-nesting birds as well as a host of other species. Most meadows are also cut for hay later in the summer so it is essential they are not trampled and it is not contaminated by dog poo!

*Bartonsham Meadows Bird of the Week* Kestrels are a common sight across the UK, often seen hovering over fields and woo...
13/06/2026

*Bartonsham Meadows Bird of the Week*

Kestrels are a common sight across the UK, often seen hovering over fields and woodland edges.

Kestrels mostly survive on a diet of small mammals, particularly voles. However, they are remarkably adaptable and in the absence of voles will also hunt small birds, lizards and insects. Typically, these birds prefer to hunt in rough grassland but can also be seen living in urban areas. This high adaptability means they remain the UK’s second most common bird of prey, despite a relative decline in numbers.

Arguably the most distinctive characteristic of these birds is their incredible ability to hover. Kestrels can carefully manipulate their head and wings to stay perfectly in place, even during turbulent winds. This behaviour, in addition to extremely good eyesight, means that kestrels can keep sight of prey from up to 50 metres away!

We’re lucky to regularly see kestrels at Bartonsham Meadows, where they enjoy a variety of grassland habitats across the reserve.

You can listen to their call here - https://xeno-canto.org/31614

📸 Bob Coyle

*Nature Reserve Notes*Exciting update from Quebb Corner Meadow Nature Reserve is the reappearance of marsh arrowgrass (T...
12/06/2026

*Nature Reserve Notes*

Exciting update from Quebb Corner Meadow Nature Reserve is the reappearance of marsh arrowgrass (Trigolochin palustre) in the boggy area of the site.

This unusual and locally rare plant for Herefordshire, is so named because of the shape of its fruit. It is found in wet meadows, fens and damp grasslands where the soils are more calcareous.

The small area of raised bog and wet grassland at Quebb Meadow, is fed year-round from base-rich springs and requires either livestock grazing or manual cutting, as opposed to the drier meadow which is species-rich, is cut for hay and grazed.

The entire site is a SSSI and the damper areas are particularly sensitive to trampling.

Images (c) Lewis Goldwater:

1) Marsh Arrowgrass at Quebb Meadow
2) Common Spotted Orchid at Quebb Meadow
3) Species-rich grassland at Quebb Meadow

*Nature Reserve Notes*Our brilliant volunteers were out at Crow Wood and Meadow Nature Reserve at the end of May, where ...
10/06/2026

*Nature Reserve Notes*

Our brilliant volunteers were out at Crow Wood and Meadow Nature Reserve at the end of May, where they were clearing bracken in areas that we want to maintain as meadow. There were hundreds of orchids - including heath spotted-orchid 💚

*Heath spotted-orchid is very similar in appearance to the common spotted-orchid, (also at Crow Wood & Meadow,) but the common spotted-orchid has wider leaves and its flowers have a more deeply lobed lip.

📸 With thanks to Leo L-F for photos

10/06/2026

It's a good time to look out for burnet moths which are starting to emerge as adults and take flight. These distinctly coloured moths, with their glossy black wings and red spots fly in the daytime and are often to be found feeding on thistles, knapw**d and scabious. Their larval food plants are common and greater birds-foot trefoils, so our species-rich meadows provide good habitats over their life cycles.

The black and red colours have evolved to be a warning to potential predators of the cyanide compound the produce. Six-spot burnet (Zygaena filipendulae) are the more common and most likely member of the family to be spotted.

6-Spot Burnet Moth at Birches Farm Nature Reserve (c) Lewis Goldwater

Monitoring the invertebrates living in our streams and rivers is a great way to understand their ecology, monitor water ...
09/06/2026

Monitoring the invertebrates living in our streams and rivers is a great way to understand their ecology, monitor water quality and be alerted to any pollution incidents.

Through our Wye Adapt to Climate Change project, a partnership with Radnorshire Wildlife Trust and Wye Valley National Landscape , funded by National Lottery Community Fund we have supported lots of groups across Herefordshire to start monitoring for riverflies.

This is a regular survey programme run through which requires professional training and incredibly dedicated volunteers! Surveys begin with taking kick sample from a specific place in the stream before the contents is examined and all the species found are identified. This data is then logged on a national database.

Here's what's happening in Herefordshire...

💧Herefordshire West Wye Riverfly Group
The group completed an initial training day in 2025 and began surveying in April 2026. A second training session took place in May 2026, welcoming additional volunteers and bringing the total to 17 RMI monitors. The group is now surveying five sites across western Herefordshire: Kinnersley Brook, Millhalf Brook, Letton Lake, Hardwicke Brook, and Dulas Brook.

💧 Wellington Brook Group
The group continues to monitor three sites on a monthly basis, achieving peak RMI scores of 14. Discussions are underway to register an additional monitoring site upstream of Wellington village.

💧 Hereford Yazor Brook Group
Monitoring locations have been reduced from 12 to seven to enable more frequent surveys by the smaller volunteer team. In 2025, an eighth site was established at Mansel Lacy to compare riverfly populations in the upper catchment with those in Hereford. Results at Mansel Lacy are more promising, but the group hopes that ongoing work will lead to improvements in the urban sections of the Yazor Brook.

💧 Newton Brook Group (Hereford)
A new monitoring site has been registered where the Western Branch meets Newton Brook, with surveying set to begin imminently. Plans are also in place to add two further sites — one upstream on Newton Brook and another upstream on the Western Branch. The group is also undertaking monitoring through the Urban Riverfly scheme.


Encouragingly, no trigger level breaches have been recorded at any monitoring sites. 💙

You can view all the data through the Riverfly Partnership’s data dashboard - riverflydata.org

Address

Queenswood Country Park & Arboretum, Dinmore Hill
Hereford
HR60PY

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

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+441432356872

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