Lugg Meadows, sited just on the eastern edge of Hereford City, has been in the news recently when this rare and important site was threatened by a proposal to build a huge new housing and business development right alongside the reserve. 

The planning application (P240422/F) drew over 1,700 objections and moved the local community to set up a campaign group to oppose the plans. Herefordshire Wildlife Trust worked with the community group as well as Plantlife and CPRE Herefordshire to campaign against the plans which we believe would have a terrible impact on this historic and special landscape. 

Fortunately, Herefordshire Council have not approved the application, communicating that they could not support the application in its current form, despite revisions from the developer which were submitted at the end of August 2025. However, we remain cautious as future applications may still be submitted for this area of land. 

 How you can help 

As a small charity, without dedicated planning or campaigns staff, defending wildlife and habitats from unexpected threats can put a strain on our resources. Donations are vital in ensuring we can support campaigns such as this one, to defend Lugg Meadows, in the future. 

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Nationally, the Wildlife Trust are The Wildlife Trusts are working hard to try to limit the impacts of the new Planning and Infrastructure Bill which has reached the final stages of debate before it becomes law. We need MPs to vote to keep a key amendment - Amendment 130 - to maintain protections for wildlife and wild spaces. 

Email your MP today! 

Lugg Meadows, today divided by the Ledbury Road into Upper & Lower Lugg meadows, are historic sites, living survivors of a land tenure and farming economy system that has disappeared elsewhere. Dating back to the time before the Domesday Book, Lugg Meadow is one of the most important surviving Lammas Meadow (common meadows opened for communal grazing on Lammas Day, the 1st of August) in the UK.  

Over 20 grass species are recorded here as well as a variety of herbaceous plants. The meadows are well-known for the snake's head fritillaries which flower each spring, while recent work has focused on the re-establishment of two other rare species: narrow-leaved water-dropwort (Oenanthe silaifolia) and mousetail (Myosurus minimus). (Read more about this recent project here: Recovering floodplain plants on Lugg Meadows | Herefordshire Wildlife Trust) 

The great expanses of open grassland are an important breeding habitat for curlew and skylark, both of which are in decline in Herefordshire. In times of winter flood, the meadows become a huge and spectacular lake, which is highly attractive to roosting gulls and visiting winter wildfowl, including both wild swans, grey geese, and surface-feeding duck such as wigeon, shoveler, teal and mallard. Birds of prey including peregrine and merlin may be seen hunting over the meadows at this time. In spring and autumn, migrant waders like greenshank, redshank, black-tailed godwit, snipe, lapwing and common sandpiper use the muddy pools and runnels to rest and feed before resuming their journeys. 

It is completely natural for the Lugg Meadows to flood seasonally and this is essential for a functioning floodplain and creates an important and increasingly rare habitat. 

However, climate change is leading to the meadows being under for more water, for longer, each winter. This also results in an increase in nutrients onto the meadow which has an effect on the grasses and wildflowers: less diversity of species and fewer specialist species but more docks and thistles. Last year was an unprecedented year with water sat on the meadow for many months without subsiding. 

Historically the drainage of the meadows was managed through a complex system of channels which feed into the Lugg Rhea. These ‘foot drains’ have slowly disappeared over the years as they became silted up. Similarly, parts of the Lugg Rhea have become blocked by vegetation and fallen trees over the years. 

With the increased volumes of water now being experienced on the meadow, the Trust has been altering our management including improving the surface water run off by opening historic channels across the meadows. 

This year, we have also made improvements to the infrastructure on site, including replacing the bridge across the Lugg Rhea – a ditch which runs along the edge of the meadow taking water off the Meadows and back into the River Lugg at Hampton Bishop. This will enable us to graze the whole site with cattle at appropriate times. Cattle favour longer grass species and graze less uniformly than sheep which favours more of the rare grassland species. As heavier animals, they also break up the ground more, creating some bare patches of earth which supports annual plants which need to seed into bare earth each year. In the meantime the new bridge is already helping to make the management of Lower House Farm Nature Reserve easier and more efficient. The Reserve is next to Upper Lugg Meadows and the bridge will enable the grazier to simply walk his stock (this year sheep only) over the bridge and onto the Reserve rather than transporting them from the gateway on the busy Ledbury Road. This is due to happen during the week beginning 10^th November. 

We are also aiming to cut the meadows earlier than we would on some sites. This is to help tackle the increased nutrient load which is deposited by the flood waters each year. Otherwise, we see nutrient-loving plants such as dock and nettle out-compete more diverse and rarer plants which should thrive on traditional floodplain meadows. This management is not straightforward, however, as, if there are still ground-nesting birds in residence (which we hope there are!) we need to delay cutting until the chicks have fledged. In addition, we also need to time it so that the hay is grown enough to be saleable, the weather is fine and dry and we can contract a farmer who is not already busy cutting their own hay! 

How you can help 

Work to manage our nature reserves is supported by over 400 volunteers – we couldn’t achieve all that we do without them! Volunteering is a great way to get outside, do great work for nature, learn new skills and make new friends! 

Find out more