Severn Waste Services have contributed a generous £40,000 towards the Trust’s appeal to purchase a 14-acre pasture within the wildlife-rich landscape of the Woolhope Dome in Herefordshire. The site is important as it is close to other nature reserves so forms part a network of nature-friendly places through which wildlife can move – essential for many species. The Trust is concerned that allowing the meadow to be sold on the open market risks it being lost to unsympathetic management or agricultural intensification. Purchasing the site will ensure it remains protected for wildlife for the future.

Severn Waste Services are long-term supporters of Herefordshire Wildlife Trust and they have funded many projects over the last ten years, either directly or via the Landfill Communities Fund, from nature reserve restoration to an electric vehicle for staff to use.  

Jim Haywood Financial Director of Severn Waste Services said:

“It gives us great pleasure to be able to support Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, once again, in their endeavours to ensure that the County continues to be the truly special place that it is.

“Herefordshire Wildlife Trust is a small Trust that works hard to have a big impact and Severn Waste are pleased to be able to stand with it in some small way to help it achieve its goals.”

The Trust launched a public appeal to raise funds to buy and restore the meadow earlier this year and have already raised over £42,000 from donations from the public.

The Trust’s Chief Executive Helen Stace said:

“The Wildlife Trusts are campaigning for '30 by 30': restoring and protecting at least 30% of land and sea for wildlife by 2030. Saving this beautiful meadow for future generations is another important step towards this goal. Wild places where nature can flourish are so important and we are so grateful to everyone who has donated so far to save another small piece of Herefordshire for wildlife. The nature reserve will also be a haven for people, too. The landscape of the Woolhope Dome, home to many traditional orchards, woodlands and pastures, as well as the Wye Valley Walk, is loved by many people and a wonderful place to come and connect with nature.”

Though already rich in many species of wildflower, Herefordshire Wildlife Trust intend to restore Ail Meadow as a traditional hay meadow which will allow wildflowers to flourish along with bees and butterflies. Small mammals will find shelter and food in the thick native hedgerows which will also be bustling with small birds such as blackcaps and yellowhammer. Meadows such as these are essential to many wildlife species yet 97% have been lost since 1935 as land use has altered so it is vital that they are saved and restored wherever possible.

Ail Meadow

A lowland pasture covering just over 14 acres, Ail Meadow lies within the wonderful, wildlife-rich landscape of the Woolhope Dome, very close to our own Wessington Pasture Nature Reserve. Though already rich in many species of wildflower, it has the potential to be so much better though changing how the site is managed. With your help, we plan to purchase the site and restore it as a hay meadow, with seasonal grazing, to enhance the sward and attract a wealth of wildlife.

Allowing the meadow to be sold on the open market risks it being lost to unsympathetic management, improvement or intensification. Purchasing the site will ensure it remains protected for wildlife for the future.

Ail Meadow is perfectly placed to provide a wonderful habitat for wildlife: close to a number of nature reserves and sympathetically managed meadows, woodlands and orchards. This helps to create a network for nature – where species can move through a 'friendly' landscape easily to find food, shelter and mates. “More, bigger, better and better joined”. This phrase coined in the Lawton Review of 2010 is the guiding philosophy behind making nature reserves the best they can be for providing for wildlife. We’re putting this into practice with our plan to buy Ail Meadow, joining the dots to make a wildlife-friendly landscape.

Many important species of plant and wildflower are already found at Ail Meadow and our management will see these flourish. Some areas of the meadow are damp fen grassland, home to quite different grasses and flowers than the drier areas. Bog pimpernel is one of the rare plants to make its home in the wet areas of the meadow; others include sneezewort and flixweed.

The meadow is also a haven for invertebrates such as the wood white butterfly. This delicate little butterfly is now extinct in many counties but has a stronghold in the area - we can manage Ail Meadow to help boost its numbers! Small mammals will find shelter and food in the thick native hedgerows which will be also be bustling with small birds such as blackcaps and yellowhammer.

Herefordshire Wildlife Trust

Herefordshire Wildlife Trust is the largest member-based nature conservation organisation in the county, with over 5,500 members, 500 volunteers and 55 nature reserves across Herefordshire. The Trust has over 50 years’ experience of managing sites valuable to wildlife and people and runs a variety of projects and partnership initiatives from environmental education programmes to conservation projects to protect, restore and celebrate Herefordshire's landscapes and wildlife. The Trust is part of the federation of 46 Wildlife Trusts based across the British Isles.  For more information visit www.herefordshirewt.org

Severn Waste Services

Severn Waste Services operates the County’s Recycling and Disposal Services in conjunction with Herefordshire Council and Worcestershire County Council. It runs the local Household Recycling Centres and the Plant which separates the recyclable materials for recycling which come from the green bins round the county as well as running the energy from waste plant which deals with the black bin material.  It also has a Composting Site and a Landfill and employs over 300 people in the two counties.