MEADOWS at Castlemorton, near Malvern, and Woolhope near Ledbury, have been designated Coronation Meadows as part of the celebrations surrounding the Queen’s anniversary.
The idea for the scheme came from Prince Charles, who, at the end of last year, suggested that one meadow in every county should be selected to mark the occasion.
The chosen meadows were revealed at the Prince’s Highgrove home in Gloucesteshire on Wednesday, and Worcestershire’s is Far Starling Bank in Castlemorton, while Herefordshire’s is Joan’s Hill Farm at Woolhope.
Far Starling Bank is part of the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust’s Hollybed Farm Meadows nature reserve. The 2.2 hectare meadow has more than 68 species of plants, and provides seed and green hay to be spread on other meadows to increase species diversity.
It sits in the historic Malvern Chase, a landscape where natural and human activities have created a rich diversity of plants and wildlife.
Joan’s Hill Farm, part of the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, is noted for its rich and colourful meadow flora and next to Haugh Wood, an ancient broadleaved woodland.
It is owned by the wildlife charity Plantlife as a nature reserve, and its flora and fauna include orchids, rare butterlies and great crested newts.
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