Bull Meadow - A Natural Networks Case Study | Worcestershire Wildlife Trust

In early 2021, North Claines Parish Council approached the Natural Networks team with the aim of transforming their recently acquired Bull Meadow into a community open space and haven for nature.

Starting with a blank grassy canvas, the site has now become an accessible and diverse wild space for the community and wildlife with a wetland complex, orchard and native hedgerows. Complimentary bulb planting adorns the site and, moving forwards, there are plans to create a native wildflower meadow and install art installations.

A field with trees and shrubs to the right — Bull Meadow prior to works going ahead by Sean Webber

In April 2021, the Natural Networks team visited the site and completed a Biodiversity Enhancement Assessment (BEA) report. Starting with an almost blank field, sown as an amenity grassland, the BEA suggested habitat creation and enhancements such as the creation of a wetland complex, the planting of an orchard, woodland planting, wildflower meadow development and the installation of bird and bat boxes, a hibernaculum and log piles.

The recommended habitat enhancements from the BEA required planning permission due to the change of land use from an agricultural field, to a recreational community space.

Over the summer, various planning consultation meetings with Worcester County Council, Highways England, the local public and other bodies went ahead, with the final planning application being submitted in July.

By November, the news of an approved application was received but this was not the last planning application needed

The planned ponds and wetland needed their own set of planning permissions, which was finally granted in May 2022.

At last, everything was in place for the works to commence but with one small problem. The window of opportunity for digging large wetlands had been missed. Winter is the best time to undertake large pond projects, so planning for works in the winter began.

Work finally got underway in October 2022. Contractors start prepping for the wetland dig, clearing the existing scrub and marking out the ponds.

Their arboricultural team identify two large trees in the boundary woodland edge that were in danger of falling down in winter storms so work began to remove them (and subsequently create materials for log piles and potentially some wooden sculptures later).

Winter 2022/2023

Two diggers digging the main pond at Bull Meadow — Digging works underway at Bull Meadow by Finley Reynolds

The wetland dig was underway by November, with both the big digger and little digger making good progress on excavating out the ponds.

Digging ponds always creates the problem of where do you put the removed soil? We had planned for this with the creation of a bund along the roadside hedge. This bund could then be planted up with native hedging trees and bulbs, providing wildlife habitat and also helping to diffuse road traffic noise.

By December the pond digging was nearly complete, with the five ponds taking form and even holding small amounts of rainwater from overnight showers. Snow arrived and the ground froze solid so work continued in January 2023.

The semi-complete pond at Bull Meadow. It is starting to fill with rainwater. There is a sprinkling of snow. — Semi-complete pond starting to hold water by Finley Reynolds

Come the new year the fancy Bentonite geosynthetic clay pond liner had arrived and the contractors started pumping out the water that had filled up the ponds over the Christmas period. Once the ponds were pumped dry, the new liners could be installed, with the small ponds being the first to be lined.

January also saw the contractors install the new pedestrian entrance way, which will eventually link up to the path network around the site.

By February, all the ponds and scrapes within the wetland had been lined and filled with rainwater. The ponds were ready to planted with flag iris’, meadowsweet and a whole host of wet-loving native plants as soon as warmer spring days arrived.

Plum tree planted in the new orchard at Bull Meadow — Plum tree by Finley Reynolds

Mid-February, however, did see the arrival and planting of the orchard trees, which included local apples, pears, plums and damsons. The 48 orchard trees were planted in the northeast quarter of Bull Meadow and were supported by and tied to a wooden stake. Come late summer these trees will provide fruit of the community and wildlife.

February also saw the arrival of the woodland the hedging trees, with the epic task of planting all 1,485 trees and shrubs beginning.

Spring 2023

The planted up bund at Bull Meadow, with path works to the left — The planted up bund at Bull Meadow by Finley Reynolds

An exceptionally wet March saw the already wet ground become wetter. Nevertheless, the bund was planted with a hedgerow mix that included hawthorn, field maple, holly and spindle. As well as providing a sound barrier from the road, the hedge will provide an excellent habitat for many nesting birds and the flowering shrubs will provide pollen to our native pollinators. The trees were then mulched with woodchip, to reduce competition.

Alongside the edges of the bund, a variety of spring bulbs were planted including snowdrops, English bluebells, wild daffodil, wild garlic and lesser celandine.

A length of rejuvenated hedgerow, with a rich mix of trees planted. — A length of rejuvenated hedgerow by Finley Reynolds

In addition to the bund, a further 800 or so trees were planted to rejuvenate the hedgerows around the site, with a species rich mix including hawthorn, hazel, wild cherry, crab apple and standards of oak along the hedge length.

Around 1000m of path was dug over March, to allow greater public accessibility to the site.

A nearly completed pathway at the entrance to Bull Meadow — Pathway works at the site entrance by Finley Reynolds

These were finished off in May just as the first set of pond plants were introduced. 1000 free-floating oxygenator were added to the ponds including hornwort, frogbit and water-crowfoot.

The contractors started creating two hibernaculum and bee banks as additional habitat creation. The hibernaculum, which are shallow scrapes in the ground up to 2ft deep, are back-filled with rubble and timber then topped with a soil cap, provide an overwintering spot for reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates. The bee banks are small crescent-shaped banks with south facing sides ideal for many solitary bees to burrow nests into.

Hibernacula created using rubble and timber by Becca Bratt

Summer 2023

An emperor dragonfly on wetland at Bull Meadow — Emperor dragonfly at Bull Meadow by Finley Reynolds

With the beginnings of summer, life is starting to settle in at Bull Meadow. The contractors have finished off the bee banks and hibernacula, and have now left the site for the enjoyment of the community and wildlife. The ponds are buzzing with dragonflies and damselflies, and the oxygenators are flourishing. The next step in the coming weeks is to plant up the ponds with native flag iris, water mint, ragged robin and meadowsweet, among others, to finish off these wildlife ponds.

With the original funding of Natural Networks coming to an end in June, this chapter of the Bull Meadow story finishes. However, North Claines Parish Council are keen to continue improving Bull Meadow for wildlife and the community. Plans are being made for a wildflower meadow to be sown in autumn 2023, and the council are on the lookout for educational and natural artwork to help inform visitors about the wildlife on site. With the Natural Networks project continuing under new funding, this story is not over yet…

A path running along the edge of a pond, which is filled with water. — July 2023- ponds and pathway post-installment by Becca Bratt