About the reserve

The field was formerly a part of the Nieuport estate, and with its past history, together with relatively fertile neutral soils, has produced an exceptionally varied herb-rich sward for such a small field.

The drier areas of the meadow are characterised by crested dog's-tail grass with large amounts of common knapweed. Two scarcer species present are pale sedge and greater butterfly orchid. Large old hedgerows surround the meadow on all sides and these typically contain a good mixture of shrubby species, including hazel, hawthorn, blackthorn, bramble and wild rose. Brambles form thickets in places, particularly along the northern boundary and west end, and these are favoured breeding places for warblers like whitethroat and garden warbler in summer.

Clear streams border the meadow on three of its sides and numerous caddis and stonefly larvae are found here, together with mayfly nymphs and other aquatic invertebrates characteristic of oxygen-rich waters.