WORCESTERSHIRE Wildlife Trust has completed the purchase of three meadows adjacent to its Boynes Coppice nature reserve, near Upton-upon-Severn.

The three meadows, which are important special wildlife sites, have been managed by the Trust under an agreement with Worcestershire County Council since 1987.

But now the trust has purchased the land and secured its future as a wildlife habitat, using a £50,000 grant from the Biffa Award fund.

Helen Woodman, reserves team leader for the trust, said: “Worcestershire is nationally important for the quantity and quality of wildflower-rich meadows so this has been a superb opportunity for us to protect and sustain these important and fast-disappearing habitats.

“The meadows lie within one of our priority living landscape areas where we’re actively working to connect these fragmented grasslands to create a meadow corridor.

“Since we took over the management of the meadows in 1987 we’ve implemented a programme of restoration and the fields are gradually developing a rich flora and fauna.

“We’re delighted that, with thanks to Biffa Award, this restoration will now be able to continue.”

It is estimated that 97 per cent of lowland meadows have been lost since the Second World War.

Worcestershire has around 20 per cent of England’s total remaining lowland meadows, although they are still under considerable threat from agricultural ‘improvements’ and poor management, according to the trust.

It is believed that since 2005 more than 240 hectares of Worcestershire’s local wildlife site listed grasslands have been lost or damaged.

Boynes Meadows are adjacent to the trust-owned Boynes Coppice and form part of the trust’s southwest meadows flagship reserves. This is a collection of eight small grasslands that demonstrate how important each sensitively managed piece of land is and how important they are as a network of sites that need to be increased for the benefit of both wildlife and people.

Helen Woodman added: “We will use Boynes Meadows to demonstrate the importance of protecting existing wildlife value and encourage other landowners to manage their land less intensively.

“The meadows at Boynes are home to green-winged orchids, adder’s-tongue ferns and dyer’s greenweed, all helping to support pollinators such as the beautiful small copper and common blue butterflies not to mention a whole host of bees and other insects.”

For more information visit worcswildlifetrust.co.uk