Amanda and Steve’s meadow

Lower Wapsworthy, Blackmoor fields

In 2021 we started managing these five acres, previously lightly horse-grazed and with variable sheep/cow grazing over two decades. There are a couple of very old fields bounded by Devon banks, some with over-mature hedgerow, ie trees. The corner of the lower field is home to the ruins of Lower Wapsworthy medieval longhouse with its associated pens etc.

Initially the mole hills (and there are always lots of them) were seeded with yellow rattle, and then we left the fields for the summer, with cows coming in for the autumn to bite the summer growth down followed by a few sheep until the spring. The fields are not ideal for hay cutting as there are occasional big rocks! Following on from this start, annual yellow rattle seeding was supplemented in the higher field with a big bag of Dartmoor green hay seed from the Devon Wildlife Trust. With all fencing repaired or replaced this has created three compartments; the higher field now has autumn cattle grazing to remove the summer growth and scything of small patches – when weather permits! – plus hand-hooking marginal bracken. This higher field is the most species diverse, with more potential into the future. The lower field has yellow rattle seed top up each year, and is sheep-grazed through the winter, plus hand-hooking marginal bracken: the field is developing a super abundance of new and growing ant hills!

After 3 years we had Devon Wildlife Trust out to do a plant species survey, which Natural England agreed was up to spec for “Species Rich Lowland grassland” , and it’s now on MAGIC. We then spent months finally getting a Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) agreement in place for 2025 (GRH6).

Lower Wapsworthy, Mowhay Meadow

Since 2021 these 2 acres have had quite different management, originally split in two equal areas pre-2010; with various trees planted in the west side, and with the east side having been horse and cattle grazed, with brooks bordering two sides of the area.

The east side is our sacrificial acre with poultry, and summer sheep grazing, and had been “improved” in the past based on the lack of floristic diversity, although parts are a little more interesting, aided now by two “leaky dams”, but only fed infrequently by flooding; this leads down to the west side.

The Copse is our name for the west side – this is the more interesting acre! Even with the tree planting this century, several of the trees had not survived, the two brooks join at the lowest point, and there is Goat willow carr and a mini-mire, and small amounts of Devil’s-bit scabious surviving. So in 2021 we brush cut and raked up some of the very high dense bracken and bramble in the dryer areas – imagine pig rootling ground once done; aiming to get light back down to the ground level; this revealed several relict huge ants nests – not occupied.

This clearance work was assisted by DWT the following year, plus phase one of leaky dam creation (part of their Upstream Thinking” project), and continued into 2023 and 2024. We did plant some plug plants of Ragged robin and Devil’s-bit scabious in 2023 (from DWT), but these don’t appear to be doing much. The leaky dams have indeed raised the water table, and are influencing part of the east side field, and the area of surface water has increased.

The rootled and brush cut areas have meant that there is grass in places now, plus the Betony and Greater burnet that was just surviving has now got a better hold. Each winter we have 3 or 4 cows in for about a week to eat the grass and churn things up!

All very much an enjoyable work in progress.