Herefordshire Wildlife Trust’s vision for Bartonsham Meadows is as a place where both wildlife and people can thrive. Since taking on the management in May 2023 we have begun to progress our management plan. 

We are restoring part of the site, which is regularly inundated by the River Wye, to be species-rich, floodplain meadows. These will give a home to iconic meadow wildlife such as skylarks, barn owls and voles while pollinators including orange-tip butterflies and bumblebees will benefit from the spring and summer flowers. It will take some time to restore the grassland which we will reseed with locally sourced wildflower and grass seed before beginning sympathetic management through some seasonal cattle grazing as well as cutting the meadow annually and making hay. 

The remainder of the site is being managed to allow natural processes to create habitats for wildlife. A few grazing animals will be allowed to roam within the fence and over time the vegetation will create a patchwork of grassland and scrub which will be a fantastic habitat for all kinds of wildlife.  

To achieve these plans, we need to install new fencing and infrastructure to allow us to bring livestock to the site and manage them safely while they are there. This will impact access to the meadow but we will maintain all public rights of way and the majority of other permissive paths. More than half of the meadows will continue to be open access for all for most of the year except when there are grazing animals when people will be asked to keep dogs on a shortish lead.  

We hope that visitors will appreciate that, to enable safe grazing and create wildlife refuges, we cannot maintain the whole site as open access as it has been for a number of years since being removed from agricultural management. 

This summer, we have installed fencing around the lower meadows where we want to encourage natural regeneration. This is to allow a limited number of livestock to graze the area in order to create a mosaic of grassland and scrub which will in turn provide a fantastic habitat for all sorts of wildlife from birds to insects to wildflowers. It will necessarily also restrict access within this area to people and dogs and this is to maintain it as a haven for wildlife that is free from disturbance, litter and dog poo. Access around the outside of this area will be unrestricted so people can still walk all round the perimeter of the meadow beside the river. 

With livestock coming onto the site seasonally, we also need to create safe access and are therefore making some alterations to the entrance area at Green Street to include an area of hard standing where cattle handling can be carried out, and trailers can come in and out. While this may initially look rather stark against the meadows, it is essential infrastructure that will allow safe and professional management of the site and it time materials will weather and blend in. 

We understand that local residents and visitors have a wide range of views about how the meadows should be managed. We have shared our management plans widely over the last two years but are always keen to hear feedback and discuss our plans. You can contact the Reserve Manager, David Hutton directly at d.hutton@herefordshirewt.co.uk or our CEO Jamie Audsley at j.audsley@herefordshirewt.co.uk.