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Beyond Dropping Well Farm: Helping wildlife in the wider landscape

Burlish Meadows by Becca Bratt

Natural Networks officer Finley explains how spaces for wildlife are being created beyond our beautiful heathlands...

As part of the Saving Worcestershire’s Heathlands project, we support communities on the borders of our beautiful heathlands to improve biodiversity in their local greenspaces. By enhancing habitats and creating wildlife corridors on our own land and throughout neighbouring communities, we are creating stepping stones for wildlife travelling through the landscapes. One of the options available to communities in Worcestershire is our incredible Natural Networks project.

Now in its seventh year, Natural Networks aims to give conservation advice for greenspaces that otherwise fall through the gaps. Where sites are eligible, officers from the Trust carry out a Biodiversity Enhancement Assessment (BEA), which aims to direct projects towards actions that enhance land for wildlife in the most appropriate way. Staff from Worcestershire County Council can then offer guidance on submitting an application for a grant of up to £15,000 (representing up to 70% of the total project cost) to help communities carry out the recommendations suggested in the BEA report.

Working across Worcestershire, Natural Networks has surveyed and provided wildlife advice for over 230 sites, working with a variety of parish, town and district councils, small business owners, allotment groups, faith groups and other environmental charities. Although these greenspaces are usually small and often not designed with nature in mind, these small areas can create excellent habitats.

Within the Wyre Forest district, we have worked across 52 sites. Here are some of our favourite projects that help to connect our heathland reserves to the surrounding landscape.

Burlish Meadows

Before and after at Burlish Meadows

Before and after at Burlish Meadows by Jasmine Walters and Becca Bratt

Located southwest of Dropping Well Farm and an extension of Burlish Top nature reserve, Burlish Meadows is a perfect example of greenspace restoration. The former golf course, left as an overgrown fly-tipping site, was restored to nature-rich greenspaces under guidance and funding from Natural Networks.

Under management from Wyre Forest District Council, the meadows now buzz with insects, scrub patches and scattered trees provide cover and food for a plethora of small mammals and birds and the retained large sandy hillocks offer ideal nesting spaces for solitary bees and basking spots for reptiles. Much of the funding went towards clearing waste from the site to make it wildlife friendly, especially within the pond from which a number of floating fridges were removed.

The site’s history, soil composition (including previously dumped spoil) and management has resulted in a unique array of plants and insects residing across the space, making it a must visit for any budding botanists or entomologists.

Stourport Sports Club

Stourport Sports Club, with fenced playing fields to the left.

Stourport Sports Club by Finley Reynolds

Nestled around the hockey pitch and the athletics track of Stourport Sports Club is an area of acidic grassland – a rare and diminishing habitat in the UK. The sports club, in association with the district council, have been managing this acidic grassland, home to harebells, heath bedstraw and green tiger beetles, through a conservation grazing regime.

Natural Networks is helping to safeguard this meadow grazing by part funding new fencing around the meadow that will be installed this autumn. This will allow the cattle and goats to continue to graze the scrub and tussocky grasses, enabling the finer wildflowers to thrive. Additionally, the sports club have agreed to create some wildflower lawn areas by amending their mowing regime over the summer months and installing a bee post for the benefit of solitary nesting bees.

So next time you go for a spin around the sports club cycle track or perhaps grab a drink at the sports bar, you’ll know a little more about this rare acidic grassland.

Stourport Riverside Meadows

Stourport Riverside Meadow. There is an existing wetland with new works in the background.

Stourport Riverside Meadow by Finley Reynolds

This is another riverside meadow, this time downstream in Stourport, where instead of a wildflower meadow, new wetland habitat has been created. Over the winter of 2022, a wetland complex – three ponds and a shallow scrape, were dug into the site with a wetland seed mix spread around the edges. This new set of ponds created habitat for a variety of aquatic insects and a breeding pair of mandarin ducks, with chicks spotted earlier this year.

The site is also used as an overflow carpark during the summer months and so to give the space a little more structure, rows of trees were planted across the site, further boosting value for wildlife.  

This autumn an extension to the wetland work is taking place, adding a new pond where the field naturally floods and creating a new pathway around the ponds for improved accessibility. Additionally, more wetland seeds will be sown to create more nectar-rich habitats for pollinating insects.

Bewdley Riverside Meadows

Heading northwest from Dropping Well Farm brings you to Bewdley and as you leave the town centre following the River Severn north, you’ll pass through Bewdley Riverside Meadows, a public park that, this autumn, will be receiving a biodiversity boost.

The park, previously just mown grass with a few scattered trees, will undergo wildflower seeding this autumn, helping to create a rich wildflower meadow full of oxeye daisy, knapweed and meadow vetchling. The park has a tendency to flood in the winter, so these areas will receive a seed mix full of damp-loving plants including meadowsweet, ragged robin and cuckoo flower. Plus, to add some extra spring colour and nectar sources, 8,500 native bulbs are being planted, including snowdrops, bluebells, wild daffodils and snake's-head fritillaries – a great addition to enhance this park for the benefit of wildlife, whilst still providing plenty of space for a picnic by the river.

Kidderminster Parks

St George’s Park, Broadwaters Park and Baxter Garden’s Park are all due a splash of spring colour. Working with Kidderminster Town Council this autumn/winter, the three parks will planted up with 4,700 snowdrop, bluebell and daffodil bulbs, as well as receiving some new fruit trees (Worcester black pear and Evesham plum). With the addition of new bird and bat boxes, the parks will become havens for wildlife as well as an excellent location for a lunchtime stroll.

Whilst our nature reserves are special places for wildlife, providing stepping stones between them creates a much richer landscape where insects, birds and amphibians can thrive. Hopefully you’ve been inspired to visit your local greenspace and see what it can offer for wildlife.

Natural Networks project is part-funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and the Forestry Commission. This project is being delivered and managed by Worcestershire County Council on behalf of Malvern Hills District Council, Worcester City Council, Wychavon District Council and Wyre Forest District Council.

Photo of a green space with newly planted trees and the logos for Natural Networks, 'funded by UK Government', Malvern Hills District Council, Worcester City Council, Wyre Forest District Council, Wychavon District Council, Worcestershire Wildlife Trust, Worcestershire County Council and Forestry Commission

The purchase of Dropping Well Farm was made possible by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Severn Waste Services, The Banister Charitable Trust, The Rowlands Trust the Helen Mackaness Charitable Trust and the generous support of Trust members and supporters.

National Lottery Heritage Fund and Severn Waste Services logos

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