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Help wildlife, connect with nature and take part in No Mow May – straight from your garden by letting the wildflowers grow (in May and beyond!)
There are many different ways you can go the extra mile for Plantlife – from organising a bake sale, running the London Marathon or planning your own plant-themed event.
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Become a Plantlife member today and together we will rebuild a world rich in plants and fungi
Join us at The Ucheldre to discover sand dunes through a new exhibition.
In 2023 the Dynamic Dunescapes Project, the Ucheldre and Wild Elements CIC joined forces. The goal? To help Anglesey visitors and residents discover the sand dunes of Rhosneigr, through art. Working together, a programme of activity days has taken place throughout the year, and two films have been produced.
Visit the exhibition to see the works created as well as other arts projects that have taken place as part of the Dynamic Dunescapes project in North Wales.
Opening times:
Monday – Saturday 10:00 – 17:00
Sunday 14:00 – 17:00
All are welcome and you can drop into the exhibit anytime during opening hours, but why not pair your visit with one (or more!) of the following:
For more information about the exhibit please visit https://ucheldre.org/ or contact the Ucheldre
Plantlife‘s work through Dynamic Dunescapes is supporting conservation action in England and Wales to improve the condition of sand dunes.
Get ready for a full day of celebrations! Discover the secrets of the temperate rainforest through talks, music and even guided walks to experience the wonder of these habitats first hand.
We are inviting you to join us, along with expert botanist Ben Averis, for a meadows ID training session prior to a season of surveys.
Join our Ranscombe Farm Reserve Manager Ben Sweeney, on a guided walk of this Important Plant Area. Head out across our flagship reserve to spot some of the rare orchids and other wildflowers that make it so special.
Plantlife is excited to welcome a new nature reserve to our growing network of sites around the UK – Three Hagges Woodmeadow in Yorkshire.
Three Hagges Woodmeadow is a 10-hectare reserve near York, and an incredible example of woodmeadow habitat which hosts an abundance of plants and invertebrates. Visitors can connect with nature among native British trees such as Small Leaved Lime Tilia cordata and Hazel Corylus avellana, which grow alongside some of our most iconic meadow species such as Ox-eye Daisy Leucanthemum vulgare and Lady’s Bedstraw Galium verum.
Woodmeadows, or wooded meadows, are species-rich hay meadows with stands of trees – an ancient form of combining agricultural meadows with forestry. Three Hagges Woodmeadow is a patchwork of woodlands, copse and wildflower meadows, including a lowland wet meadow and a lowland dry meadow.
Woodmeadows are ‘habitat mosaics’, comprising of lots of ‘messy edges’ which support a huge variety of homes for wildlife. Long established woodmeadows can support extraordinary levels of botanical diversity, with some ancient European examples supporting 70+ plant species per square metre.
Paul Rowland, Conservation Land Manager:
‘Nature reserves offer islands of sanctuary for wildlife that’s under ever-increasing pressure from human activity and climate change. Plantlife’s work aims to not only provide robust and dynamic habitats for plants, fungi and their associated birds, animals and invertebrates to thrive, but also to extend their influence beyond their boundaries.
Nature reserves can and must be more than just islands. Our green spaces can provide sanctuary for us too – through wellbeing, education and the more sustainable production of healthy food.
Three Hagges Woodmeadow provides Plantlife with a unique opportunity, in our suite of nature reserves, in that it is a restored habitat on a site that was previously used for intensive agriculture. We will enhance the wood and grassland habitats here to help nature flourish and to provide opportunities for people to learn about, enjoy, contribute to and be rewarded by a beautiful environment that’s rich in plants and fungi.’
Expanding our network of reserves is important for nature, as it allows us to use the wealth of expertise within Plantlife to help green spaces thrive.
Recent work on our reserves has included planting fruit trees to benefit an ancient orchard landscape and the rare beetles that call them home as well as managing meadows to help Butterfly Orchids bloom in record numbers.
Welcoming a new reserve is a transformational moment in Plantlife’s history. It presents us with a unique opportunity to deliver our ambition to protect and restore wild plants and fungi, in meadows and woodlands for communities across the UK.
Ian Dunn, Plantlife’s CEO shares his excitement as we celebrate our 24th reserve:
“We were absolutely delighted to have been chosen by the Woodmeadow Trust to become the new guardians of their activities and assets. We are thrilled to be the new custodians of Three Hagges Woodmeadow and wider woodmeadow work moving forward and consider the combination to be a major contributor to Plantlife’s ambition for delivering a world rich in plants and fungi.”
Discover Plantlife’s newest reserve in Yorkshire, England.
Furnace Meadow and Brick Kiln Rough contain a range of habitats, from meadow to marshy grassland, scrub to stream and even ancient woodlands.
Davies Meadows has fascinating geology, sitting on glacial moraine, which is ground left behind from a glacier.
Augill Pasture is a small area of unimproved grassland and woodland, beside an old lead smelt mill that dates back to 1843.
From mountain pastures to floodplain meadows, grasslands cover more than 40% of land in the UK.
They are a huge natural asset; vital for nature and people to thrive, for food production, and to combat climate change.
The true value of grasslands has been overlooked by successive governments in the UK.
The majority of our ancient wildlife-rich grasslands have been destroyed and they are now among the UK’s rarest habitats – with losses continuing today. Over-fertilised and monoculture fields now dominate our landscape, providing few benefits for nature, people or our climate.
It’s time for real action to make the most of our grasslands.
This would help to achieve national and international climate and nature targets, by driving the restoration, appropriate management, and creation of wildlife-rich grasslands, connected across the landscape.
Grasslands can provide many incredible ecosystem services and benefits – such as supporting wildlife, storing carbon, providing clean air and water, and producing nutritious food – but they could be doing so much more.
Plantlife and our partners are calling on the UK Government to prioritise grasslands and commit to developing a Grassland Action Plan for England.
The untapped potential of grasslands continues to be overlooked by government – but protecting, restoring and managing these incredible habitats is crucial for tackling the climate and biodiversity emergencies.
We’ve written to the government to urge them to create a cross-departmental Grassland Taskforce. Unlike trees and peatland, there is no dedicated team or person in government for grasslands, despite them covering 40% of England.
The letter has been supported by more than 40 environmental organisations and charities including Pasture for Life, Bumblebee Conservation Trust, UK Youth for Nature and Campaign for National Parks.
Read our letter here.
To unlock the benefits of grasslands, a new approach is needed. We’re calling on governments in the UK to make the most of our grasslands.
This briefing covers how Plantlife and its partners are calling on the UK Government to make the most of grasslands and commit to developing a Grassland Action Plan for England’
From machair to meadows, species-rich grasslands are intrinsic to Scotland’s biodiversity, history and identity – whilst producing food and playing an often-overlooked role in tackling climate change.
This briefing highlights the value of grasslands as stable carbon stores in order to make the case for action by policy makers, researchers and land managers to protect these grasslands.
A review of the extent of semi-natural and/or species-rich grasslands in the UK, exploring trends overtime and between nations.
This report offers a review of existing literature and evidence on the numerous advantages associated with species-rich grasslands.
From mountain pastures to floodplain meadows, from road verges to private gardens and urban parks – grasslands are all around us. Nature-rich grasslands are sustainable solutions for nature, food, climate, economy, and health.
Discover the wealth of benefits provided by these biodiverse habitats and why we need to take action to make the most of our grasslands.
If your organisation would like to support this important call out please contact Jo.Riggall@plantlife.org.uk
Since the 1930s, 97% of wildflower meadows across England and Wales have disappeared – and we're creating positive change.
We are working to restore Pasqueflower, which can only be found at 19 sites across England, and Juniper, which is facing extinction in southern Britain.
Glaswelltiroedd Gwydn is a 3-year project to create positive change on grasslands such as meadows and rhôs pasture across Wales.
Plantlife are excited to have begun a 10 year partnership project with English Heritage, where we will restore and create 100 meadows across 100 historic sites, as part of the King’s Meadow Project.
Meadows and grasslands are essential for biodiversity, as well as for storing carbon and enhancing our well-being.
Understanding how meadows are established and the role we have as humans on sustaining them is crucial. Sarah Shuttleworth, Plantlife’s Senior Ecological Advisor, explains how collaboration between Plantlife meadow experts and English Heritage head gardeners and landscape staff, is helping to protect these beautifully biodiverse landscapes.
‘Nearly all land in the UK would eventually turn to woodland if it was completely left alone, therefore grasslands naturally start to turn to scrub and then woodland if they are not managed. This is why we need to cut them for hay and/or graze them with animals which helps to keep the diversity of specialised meadow critters from disappearing.
It was also important to explore the reasons behind their disappearance: we have lost over 97% of our meadows or species rich grasslands in the last century.
Our demand for food since World War II has intensified the way in which we manage the land, resulting in a shift from species-rich hay meadows that were cut by hand, to ploughing and replanting grasslands with grass seed mixes for silage, or pasture for animals to graze on. This is why this project to restore and create meadows is so exciting.’
Training led by Plantlife will have an impact on some of England’s greatest historic sites, whose meadows are as rich with nature as they are with heritage.
During a 2-day training event held at English Heritage properties, Plantlife led discussions about how to create new meadows at their sites, and enhance those that already exist at iconic landscapes across the country.
‘Plantlife’s meadows team helpfully showed us how we could improve the species diversity by cutting meadows earlier to control the vigour of grasses and other vigorous species. Our gardeners and managers have returned to their own sites across England enthused and have started planning soil surveys as the first stage to assess the potential of sites we are looking to restore in the years ahead.
With Plantlife’s support and advice, English Heritage is creating more natural spaces at the heart of 100 of our historic properties, ensuring that wildflowers and wildlife can flourish there once again, and helping our visitors to step back into history and experience something with which the sites’ historic occupants would have been familiar.
On one such site, over in Kent, Charles Darwin used his meadow at his home, Down House, to produce hay, for grazing his animals and as a place for observation and experiments. In 1855, with the help of his children’s governess, he started a survey of all flowering plant species growing in the neighbouring Great Pucklands Meadow. He would go on to use the data to demonstrate biodiversity in his seminal work on natural selection.
Today, both of Darwin’s meadows provide an outstanding show in the early summer. Buttercups turn the field into a golden blaze, followed by White and Red Clover, Great Burnet, Ox-eye Daisies, Knapweed and many more. This wonderful array is enjoyed by visitors large and small, including bees, butterflies, moths and wasps.
In a decade’s time, our coronation pledge will be an inspiring legacy of established, restored and new meadows at 100 of our historic sites – big and small – right across England.’
We’ve lost over 97% of our meadows in less than a century. Plantlife’s work, like the Kings Meadow Project, will restore healthy grasslands rich in wild plants and fungi, which can support more wildlife, store more carbon and so much more.
Plantlife’s policy team have responded to a Scottish Government consultation on a potential ban on peat sales. This consultation is welcome but long overdue.
Species on the Edge is a partnership of eight of Scotland's nature conservation organisations. We are working collaboratively to safeguard 37 priority species found along Scotland's coast and islands.
A project led by the Alliance for Scotland’s Rainforest to protect and restore this globally important habitat
How Plantlife is moving one of the most endangered wildflowers in Europe off the Red Data list for Great Britain.
The Fen Orchid Liparis loeselii, is one of the most endangered wildflowers in Europe, but successful conservation efforts have given hope for its survival. The orchid is only found in two areas of the UK:
We believe that the orchid could finally be removed from the Red Lists for both England and Great Britain.
After a decade of research and partnership work, the orchid has been re-discovered at former sites in the Broads, and the total population has estimated to have risen to over 15,000 plants through proper management.
The orchid has also been reintroduced to its former sites in Suffolk, and the signs are encouraging that it will become established in some of its old homes.
In South Wales, the conservation effort to restore the fragile dune habitat at Kenfig and to rediscover the plant at former dune locations.
At Kenfig numbers had dropped from a conservative 21,000 at the end of the 1980s to just 400 when conservation work began.
After almost 10 years of work, over 4000 Fen Orchids have been counted, more than double the highest number seen in the last two decades.
The orchids once grew at eight dune sites along the south Wales coast, but a lack of active management led to their disappearance. The success at Kenfig gives hope for other dune sites like Whiteford and Pembrey, the former of which the plant has recently been re-found after searching.
45% of flowering plants are at risk of extinction.
Donate today to help us take action for the unsung heroes of our ecosystems, wild plants and fungi.
Dave Lamacraft, Plantlife’s Lichen and Bryophyte Specialist, heads out to discover a wealth of extraordinary lichens which call Wales’ rainforests home.
Plantlife’s Vascular Plants Officer Robbie Blackhall-Miles finds an exciting new plant species for Wales.
In the UK we have over 45 species of orchid – which might be more than you thought! Learn more about this wild and wonderful family of plants with Plantlife wildflower expert Sarah Shuttleworth.
An ambitious Plantlife project to revitalise populations of Juniper in Wiltshire and Oxfordshire to prevent native Juniper from becoming extinct.
Across our downlands, this iconic shrub has failed to regenerate for the past 60 years and as the bushes reach the end of their lives, whole colonies are dying out.
Juniper had been lost from nearly 50% of its historic range and without vital conservation work, is likely to become extinct in lowland England within the next 50 years, in turn impacting on the species it supports, such as Goldcrest, Fieldfare and Song Thrush.
In the Saving England’s Lowland Juniper project, Plantlife joined forces with landowners, supported by Natural England, to revitalise Juniper across southern England. 48 patches of land at nine sites in Wiltshire and Oxfordshire were scraped back to create a grassland habitat suitable for Juniper to regenerate. These efforts focused on hotspots where Juniper is in rapid decline and took place in partnership with the Wylye Valley Farmers Group. Early successional habitat suitable for Juniper regeneration has been created as a result, with the land then seeded with Juniper collected from nearby bushes.
The project areas in Wiltshire and Oxfordshire have been selected as they are key areas on our southern chalk grassland where Juniper population patches can be re-established and where clusters of populations occur in close proximity.
This is the first time Juniper has been regenerated in a near-natural manner on a landscape scale anywhere in the British Isles. It comes following a successful trial, which saw more the 200 new Juniper bushes regenerate within ten years on land scraped by Plantlife in 2009.
The bare ground will also benefit 16 other threatened and scarce plant species which colonise early successional habitat including:
Juniper, Juniperus communis, is a prickly, sprawling evergreen shrub in the Cypress family with short spiky leaves. It blooms with small yellow flowers, followed by ‘berries’ (which are actually fleshy cones) that start green but ripen to blue-black.
It is unusual in its choice of habitats which contract greatly between the north, where it grows on acid soils in cold and rainy places, and the south, where it favours hot, dry calcium-rich soils.
The Saving England’s Lowland Juniper project was funded primarily by Defra’s Green Recovery Challenge Fund, with support from Formula Botanica.
We are continuously looking for further funding and support on the development of grassland habitat.
Date: Saturday 1 July
Time: 11:00 + 14:00
Location: Gilbert White’s House & Gardens, GU34 3JH
A 45 minute guided walk around the beautiful meadow at Gilbert White’s House and Gardens.
Booking Required
Join us in celebrating National Meadows Day 2023 with a guided walk around our beautiful meadow at Gilbert White’s House and Gardens.
Discover more about the abundance of species of wildflowers and meadow plants growing on our site, including species of orchid and yellow rattle and how our ongoing efforts help maintain it as a vital habitat for butterflies, moths (including day-flying) and other insects.
Please note you must also purchase tickets to the garden to join this walk. Please meet in the Stable Yard promptly at your chosen walk time.
Take part in Plantlife’s National Meadows Day on Saturday 1 July 2023 by visiting your nearby meadows at their midsummer best.
This year we celebrate the value of our local species-rich grasslands, including meadows.
#NationalMeadowsDay
The Coronation Meadows project, originally involving over 80 donor meadows and over 90 recipient meadows, pioneered a path to the long-term creation and restoration of wildflower rich grasslands.
With this and other grassland restoration programmes, almost 5,000 hectares have been created and restored in the UK since 2013.
In 2012, Plantlife published Our Vanishing Flora, a report highlighting the loss of wild flowers from individual counties across Great Britain since the Coronation. In his foreword for the report, Plantlife’s Patron at the time, His Majesty King Charles III, called for the creation of new wild flower meadows, at least one in every county, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Coronation.
The Coronation Meadows project involved donor meadows, the best examples of our remaining meadows, and recipient meadows, specially selected grassland sites located in the same county as the donor meadow from which they received seed to form new coronation meadows.
Coronation Meadows are outstanding examples of our remaining meadows, rich in a wealth of flowers and able to be held up as the flagship meadow for the county.
They will typically be semi-natural grasslands resulting from natural regeneration, managed with traditional methods, and full of local character and identity. The meadows were selected by the project technical group having been assessed and verified against the project criteria.
The Coronation Meadows, known as donor meadows, were used to literally ‘seed’ at least one new meadow (termed a recipient site) within that same county. This was usually done by collecting “green hay” from the Coronation Meadow which is then spread onto the receptor site.
Green hay is a term for ordinary hay that has been cut earlier than usual before it has shed seed. By harvesting in this way, more seed is retained within the loose hay bales and more is transferred to the receptor site, increasing the chances of success. It is spread within a few hours of being cut to ensure the seed remains in good condition.
Plantlife has 5 donor meadows, exceptional examples of wildflower meadows brimming with some of our most important grassland species such as orchids, from Cornwall to north Wales.
Since the project start Plantlife’s donor meadows have made a huge impact for wildlife in their counties.
A healthy population of Green-winged Orchids were discovered at Hustrans, a recipient meadow of Plantlife’s Joan’s Hill Farm reserve’s seed in 2013. Recently the new meadows reached the high standard required to become a new county Local Wildlife Site.
The impact of our reserves doesn’t stop at meadows. In north Wales, our Caeau Tan-y-bwlch Coronation Meadow provided the perfect donor seed for road verges near the 2023 Eisteddfod site in Boduan, Gwynedd, alongside Gwaith Powder Nature reserve.
Plantlife’s aim is to restore another 10,000 hectares across the UK by 2030 to give everyone the chance of experiencing the kind of beautiful and wildlife-rich meadows that were once commonplace.
A celebration of our Coronation Meadows for King Charles III
Latest news
For more information on our grassland meadow maker, and if you think you have land that could be restored into grassland please visit the meadow hub.
The Coronation Meadows Project was led by Plantlife and in partnership with The Wildlife Trusts and the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, who worked together to achieve this goal. IT was funded by Biffa.
Location: Sheldon, Peak District, Derbyshire OS: SK 165 698 What Three Word location:///announced.hangs.paradise
Habitat: Limestone Grassland
Deep Dale is one of those special places where, if you visit the right part at the right time of year, you will see swathes of colour spreading over the hillsides.
Sitting within the Peak District National Park, this grassland reserve has a rich cultural history including lead mining and the remains of a Romano-British settlement on a steep-sided hill called Fin Cop.
If you’re heading for a visit, there are many beautiful plants to keep an eye out for. Why not download our plant guide and circular walk map here.
The reserve is an area of grassland between 150-325m above sea level.
It lies within the Peak District National Park where the underlying rock is mainly carboniferous limestone. Most of the grassland is on thin soils over this rock, and so is very calcium-rich.
At the top of the slopes the soil becomes more acidic, while at the foot the soil is deeper and more fertile. Each zone has its own flora.
From Bakewell, take the A6 towards Buxton. Approximately 3.5 miles from Bakewell you reach the White Lodge pay and display car park on the left hand side of the road.
To get to the reserve from the car park, follow the footpath leading southwards. Approximately 200 meters from the car park you reach a stile, which is one of the entrances to the reserve.
Early Purple Orchids and Cowslips at Deep Dale
Meadow Saxifrage at Deep Dale
Mountain Pansies at Deep Dale
Lilly of the Valley
Looking down the hill at the Early Purple Orchids
Orange Tip butterfly on a Cuckoo Flower
A Limestone Fern
Close up of a dainty Bitter Vetch flower
Wood Anemone
Mossy Saxifrage
A downloadable pdf with map and guide of a circular 4 mile walk in Peak District National park , starting from White Lodge Carpark
24 Plantlife
Location: Week St. Mary, Cornwall OS: SX 234963 What Three Word location:///wobbles.cats.digs
Habitat: Culm grassland
Greena Moor is an excellent example of culm grassland where ‘culm’ refers to the rocks underneath the clay soil.
Always sparse, culm grassland suffered a catastrophic decline through agricultural ‘improvements’. The reserve is a fragment of what was once an extensive moorland and mire system, including large areas of culm grassland. It is fringed by wet woodland of alder and willows.
The nationally scarce Wavy St-John’s-wort Hypericum undulatum and Three-lobed Water Crowfoot Ranunculus tripartitus can be found here. Devil’s-bit Scabious Succisa pratensis is an important food plant for the Marsh Fritillary butterfly which are active on the reserve.
Purchase of the reserve was made possible by Unilever. Managed in partnership with Cornwall Wildlife Trust.
Culm measures are a kind of rock from the Carboniferous era that contains thin bands of impure anthracite or culm, found only in Cornwall, Devon, the New Forest and South Wales
Always sparse, culm grassland suffered a catastrophic decline through agricultural “improvements”. The reserve is a fragment of what was once an extensive moorland and mire system, including large areas of culm grassland. It is fringed by wet woodland of alder and willows.
Follow the B3254 south towards Launceston and turn right to Week St Mary.
At the southern end of the village take the minor road signposted to Launceston, and turn right just beyond the Green Inn. The reserve is about a mile further on the left.
Cattle at the Reserve
Pale Dog Violet
A Common Lizard spotted in the grasses
Brush cutting at Greena Moor
Orange tip butterfly on a Cuckoo Flower
Five-spot Burnet Moth on Common Bird’s-foot Trefoil at Greena Moor
A Common Shrew in the undergrowth
Slender St John’s Wort
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