Nottinghamshire has lost 99% of its meadows since the 1930s

We need your support to:

• Protect the meadows we have left
• Restore the grasslands in our care to glory
• Sustain an annual life cycle for wildlife 

Preserving Paradise

Meadows are biodiverse havens, home to some of our rarest and hardest working species. They are feasts for the senses, as well as fundamental to protecting our increasingly fragile environment. 

A healthy meadow and surrounding hedgerows can host: 

• A vast array of wildflowers, such as great burnet, pyramidal orchids, lady's bedstraw, red clover and ox-eye daisies (special not only for their beauty, but also their benefit to pollinators)
• Multitudes of invertebrates, from tiny froghoppers, to eye catching marbled white butterflies, to industrious bumblebees
• A variety of small mammals, including protected pipistrelle bats, acrobatic harvest mice, and dynamic field voles
• Birds ranging from beautiful yet red listed skylarks, turtle doves and yellowhammers, to larger birds of prey like barn owls and kestrels.

These are just some of the amazing wildlife you could support by donating to our appeal today.

Protect our rare meadow wildlife

Meadows not only help the wildlife that thrive within them, but also have carbon capture benefits and are natural flood defences. In today’s world, these factors should not be understated, and we must do all we can to support our wild places. 

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust has 28 hectares of species-rich grassland in its care (many of which are SSSI), including jewels like Ashtons Meadow, Glebe Field in Attenborough Nature Reserve, Wilwell Farm Cutting and Eakring Meadow.

It is essential that we protect the meadows we have left, restore our grassland sites to glory, and sustain an annual life cycle for wildlife. 

Nottinghamshire’s Meadow Makers 

Our team of staff, volunteers and nature-grazers are dedicated to keeping Nottinghamshire's meadow reserves in top condition.  

To sustain an annual life cycle, meadows need to be cut once a year, usually in mid-late summer after the wildflowers have set seed (at Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, we leave 10-20% uncut to continue to provide food and shelter for wildlife). To complete this work, our team use traditional tools like scythes, as well as occasionally hiring specialist machinery for larger reserves. 

Once cut, meadow and grassland reserves are grazed by our flock of sheep and cattle, who manage scrub like brambles and encroaching hedgerows, as well as tread in the dropped wildflower seed. 

Cutting and grazing is essential for meadows as it helps to remove excess nutrients from the soil and limits the growth of some grass species, which if left unchecked would outcompete the wildflowers. 

Come the spring, a well-managed wildflower meadow will burst into bloom and provide a home to a multitude of wildlife.

Please help us to continue managing meadows in the most efficient and sustainable way possible.