About the reserve

Known as ‘Little Marises’, the flower-rich meadow lies between two other nature reserves – Cethins Meadow and Canon Tump Common – in the Black Mountains Valley, near to Michaelchurch Escley.

The meadow is filled with wild flowers in early summer, such as common spotted orchids, ox-eye daisies and eye bright. It is also a wonderful place to spot meadow butterflies and day-flying moths.

The meadow is just under two hectares and is divided into two fields by a traditional hedgerow and mature trees. It also includes the source of the Slough Brook; just a trickle through the meadow. Sites like this are hugely important as the UK has lost around 97% of its wildflower meadows since the 1940s.

These meadows are created though being managed traditionally – cut for hay annually then grazed with sheep or cattle – rather than being ‘improved’ with fertilizers which creates a more uniform pasture with one or two grass species and few, if any, flowers. This management, which is being continued by Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, allows a diversity of flower and grass species to thrive which in turn allows insect, small mammal and reptile species to flourish. These animals provide food for birds and larger mammals while the surrounding hedgerows and trees provide their shelter.